Journalistic Style
Journalistic Style
Dutch journalism compresses ruthlessly. aldus replaces a whole reporting clause, quotes are folded into sentences without 'said', and attribution rides on a single auxiliary. Reading it fluently means unpacking a great deal of implied structure.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
aldus attributes a quotation in one word
'De maatregel is onvermijdelijk', aldus de minister.
'The measure is unavoidable,' the minister said.
aldus means 'thus, according to' and follows a quotation to attribute it, replacing an entire clause like zei de minister. It takes no verb at all. The related volgens ('according to') precedes the source instead and is used for paraphrase rather than direct quotation, so the two are not interchangeable.
Nominal compression carries the information
de door de gemeente aangekondigde bezuinigingen
the cuts announced by the municipality
Journalistic Dutch packs a relative clause into a pre-nominal participial phrase: de door X aangekondigde Y. Everything sits between the article and the noun, in reverse order from the English equivalent, which puts the participle after the noun. These constructions can grow long, and parsing them means finding the final noun first and reading backwards.
Attribution and hedging are grammatical, not lexical
De verdachte zou hebben bekend. Naar verluidt is er overleg gevoerd.
The suspect has reportedly confessed. Talks are said to have been held.
Rather than adding 'allegedly' to every sentence, Dutch marks unverified reporting with zou plus a perfect infinitive, or with the set phrase naar verluidt. Because the hedge lives in the verb, it is easy to miss and impossible to remove without changing the grammar — which is precisely why journalists rely on it.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- according to / thus
- English
- reportedly
- English
- the budget cut
- English
- the municipality
- English
- to confess
- English
- the main point
- English
- the commentary
- English
- the report / feature
- English
- the headline
- English
- the interview
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