Admin
The manual of style of some Spanish language newspapers dictates the use of a word order that is not the usual word order. Spanish sentence structure is very flexible compared to English. Latin, the parent language of Spanish, is much more flexible than its child language. English has a very rigid word order, that’s why commas are needed whenever you change the usual word order. In Spanish, we don’t need commas in cases like these.
I have noticed that this causes students a lot of problems, even for advanced students. Sometimes it’s difficult for them to identify the subject of the sentence. I’ll copy some examples taken from El Universal, a Mexican newspaper that uses a different structure for most of their headlines: the verb comes first. That’s the way they like it at that newspaper.
| Headline | Usual order | |
|---|---|---|
| Llama Lula a México a formar un bloque comercial | Lula llama a México a formar un bloque comercial | Lula (Brazil’s president) proposes Mexico to form a trade block |
| Colapsa mina por sismo en EU | Una mina colapsa por sismo en EU (In Mexico, we normally don’t use EE. UU.) | A mine collapses in the U. S. due to an earthquake ( |
| Recuperará Chrysler logotipo de pentágono y estrella | Chrysler recuperará logotipo de pentágono y estrella | Chrysler will recover its pentagon and star logo |
| Justifica Macron polémicas vacaciones en EU | Macron justifica polémicas vacaciones en EU | Macron justifies his controversial vacation in the U. S. |
| Reingresa Linsay Lohan a centro de rehabilitación | Linday Lohan reingresa a centro de rehabilitación | Linday Lohan is admitted at a rehab center again |
| Sancionarán a policias con brazaletes de Hello Kitty | (las autoridades) sancionarán a policías con brazaletes de Hello Kitty / Policías serán sancionados con brazaletes de Hello Kitty | Police officers will be penalized by wearing Hello Kitty bracelets (in Thailand) |
Originally published on 20070806. Latest update 20210327 (spanishNY.com) top
