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English resources/Summary writing/Headlines

Headline writing

A headline is a summary that has to fit one line. Often present tense. Drop "a" and "the" if you can.

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How to run this

Give them the sentence. One line. Then show a model. Then keep five of its words.

Twelve, filled in

A headline is not a caption. It has a verb.

Two weeping nurses somehow saved the tiny premature twin babies before dawn.

Headline

Nurses save premature twin babies

Dropped: Weeping, somehow, tiny, dawn.

Brown flood water, rising within ten minutes, ruined the entire ground floor.

Headline

Flood ruins entire ground floor

Dropped: Brown, ten minutes.

Furious unions, calling the terms an insult, rejected all final contract offers.

Headline

Unions reject final contract offers

Dropped: Furious, insult, all.

Overnight parking was allowed on every street until the mayor banned it.

Headline

Mayor bans overnight street parking

Dropped: Allowed, every. The ban is the news.

Volunteers, not the council, reopened the railway line that collapsed in March.

Headline

Volunteers reopen collapsed railway line

Dropped: The council, March.

The last giant sundaes were licked by thirty cheering children after the van broke down.

Headline

Children lick last giant sundaes

Dropped: Thirty, cheering, the van.

From Wellfleet in November to a Coney Island afternoon eight months later, turtle Pancake rejoins the Atlantic.

Headline

Turtle Pancake rejoins the Atlantic

Dropped: November, Coney Island, eight months. Wellfleet can stay in the five. It does not have to stay in the sentence.

In thirty years at an Ohio children's hospital, one surgeon draws ten thousand cartoons on little bandages.

Headline

Surgeon draws cartoons on bandages

Dropped: Thirty years, Ohio, ten thousand, little.

Rex, a wobbly four-month-old kitten who never could walk, gets in the wheelchair Michael Hawley built him from Lego.

Headline

Wobbly kitten gets Lego wheelchair

Dropped: Rex, four-month-old, never could walk, Michael Hawley.

After a prank order of pizzas in Wyoming, one pizzeria owner gives the whole lot to the ER.

Headline

Pizzeria gives pizzas to ER

Dropped: Prank, Wyoming, whole lot, owner.

After a call from an Ohio church, a friendly pygmy goat rode to the county fair in the back seat of a police cruiser.

Headline

Pygmy goat rides police cruiser

Dropped: Ohio, church, friendly, county fair, back seat.

A Seattle dog called Eclipse rode the bus alone to the park, a few stops off, in a red harness, with her own pass on her collar.

Headline

Seattle dog rides bus alone

Dropped: Eclipse, the park, red harness, the pass.

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โ† All summary writing Now play today's Long Story ShortOne real news sentence. Keep five of its words. Two minutes. Free. No login.Play now
Sentences are retired Long Story Short puzzles, written for the game, not copied from a paper. Painting public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Notes by Akash Wadhwani. Copy it. Print it. Share it. No sign-up.
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