




































American International Journal of Social Science Research 

Vol. 10, No. 1; 2021 

ISSN 2576-103X   E-ISSN 2576-1048 

Published by CRIBFB, USA 

 

28 

A STUDY OF THE STYLISTIC FEATURES AND EFFECTS OF 

ENGLISH FOOTBALL NEWS 
 

Jing Huang 

School of Foreign Languages 

Dalian University of Technology Dalian, China 

E-mail: jazlynhuang61@163.com 

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9571-481X 

 

Dr. Shuo Cao 

Professor 

School of Foreign Languages 

Dalian University of Technology Dalian, China 

E-mail: caoshuo@dlut.edu.cn  

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3818-9892 

 

Fang Yue 

School of Foreign Languages 

Dalian University of Technology Dalian, China 

 E-mail: yf1101123@163.com 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2986-9368 
 

Received: August 29, 2021         Accepted: September 30, 2021      Online Published: December 31, 2021  

 

DOI: 10.46281/aijssr.v10i1.1529                  URL: https://doi.org/10.46281/aijssr.v10i1.1529 

ABSTRACT 

The study investigates the stylistic features of English football news from the perspective of 

general stylistics. Stylistics, as a discipline based on modern linguistic theories, turns to studying 

non-literary texts from the perspective of stylistics. The study examines English football news 

from the three levels of stylistic analysis, namely lexis, syntax and semantics. Compared with 

other news types, English football news are less attracted to linguistics, and most of the previous 

studies are focused on the research of the title. This study employs samples of English football 

news from the official website of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The findings of this study 

suggest that at the lexical level, the use of technical terms, abbreviation, nicknames, neologism 

and numbers highlights the uniqueness of English football news in lexical use, thereby saving 

space, increasing readability and narrowing the distance between news editors and readers; at 

the syntactic level, the special stylistic features of English football news are mainly reflected in 

the unmarked theme and singular form of a plural concept; and the use of rhetorical devices 

such as metaphor, hyperbole and personification to achieve semantic variation reflects the 

stylistic features of English football news at the semantic level. 

 

Keywords: English Football News, Stylistic Analysis, Stylistic Effect, Stylistic Feature. 

 

JEL Classification Codes: A19, A39, B49, C10, C60. 

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INTRODUCTION 

Research Background 

Among all sports in the world, football is known as the “world’s first sport”. The number of 

football fans is astounding about half of the world’s population. The FIFA World Cup, held every 

four years, is the most popular major sporting event in the world and the focus of media attention 

around the world. Taking the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia as an example, there were 736 

athletes from 32 teams participating in this tournament, and over 214 countries and regions 

broadcast and reported the World Cup. The media plays an important role in spreading the 

influence of football. It is relying on the widespread of media that the charm of football can be 

presented to the audience. English football news is the most common way for people to learn 

about football, which is usually spread on the Internet, newspapers, television or radio. It is the 

most important way of information dissemination and has penetrated into people’s lives. 

And stylistics, as a discipline based on modern linguistic theories, turns to study non-

literary texts. However, there are very few theses on the stylistic study of English football news 

reports, and most of the theses study the stylistic features of political news and financial news. 

Therefore, the author believes that it is necessary to broaden the field of stylistic research. In 

addition, among all the researches on English football news, the author finds out that most 

studies focus on the characteristics or translation of the title. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the 

stylistic features of English football news of the official website of the 2018 Russia World Cup 

from the level of lexis, syntax and semantics. 

 

Research Significance and Purpose 

With the vigorous development of football, football news reports play an important role as an 

important medium for the spread of football matches and football spirits. Those reports have 

become one of the indispensable media for people in all walks of life to understand the news of 

football in a timely and effective manner because of its rich language, timely update and rapid 

dissemination. Stylistic research is also becoming more and more popular in the study of 

practical subjects, and news reports are one of them. Besides, as a global language, English is the 

most common way of presenting football news. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the 

stylistic features of English football news reports. 

On the one hand, this study is conducive to enriching and broadening the research 

perspective and research results of football news and stylistics theories. From the perspective of 

football news, previous researches on football reports are mostly metaphorical research, 

rhetorical research, translation studies, which rarely involve stylistic research. Stylistic research 

pays more attention to the study of literary works in terms of vocabulary and grammar. There are 

few analyses of football reports, and most of the relevant researches collected are mainly about 

financial news or international political news. 

On the other hand, it can provide a reference for the learning and teaching of football 

news English and also give hints for the preparation of football English editors and related 

football English textbooks. With the deepening of the internationalization of English, Chinese 

English newspaper and periodicals are constantly improving. By analyzing the stylistic features 

of football news reports on the official website of the World Cup, this thesis allows the editors of 

news English in China to deeply understand the characteristics of the mainstream English 

newspapers, and provides a reference for future news editing work, thus promoting the football 

and other sports communication of China with the outside world to some extent. 



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This thesis analyzes the football news reports of the official website of the 2018 World Cup 

(www.fifa.com/worldcup/). The specific research questions are as follows: 

1. What stylistic features are there in English football news reports at the levels of lexis, 

syntax and semantics on the official website of the World Cup? 

2. What are the significances and effects of the stylistic analysis of English football news? 

By studying the above two questions, this thesis aims to reflect the stylistic features of English 

football news reports and investigate the specific language phenomena and characteristics of 

English football news reports. Furthermore, it provides enlightenment and references for the 

learning and teaching of football news English, news English editing and textbook writing. 

 

RELEVANT CONCEPTS 

The classification and basic features of English football news should be introduced before 

summarizing the theoretical framework of this research, based on the definition of style and 

stylistic, and the levels of stylistic analysis. 

 

Introduction to English Football News 

With the rapid development of football events at home and abroad, the World Cup, Premier 

League and many other football events have been successfully held, and English football news 

has received widespread attention all over the world. The following part briefly outlines the 

definition and classification of English football news, and then introduces its basic features. 

 

1. Definition and Classification 

To begin with, we have to introduce the definition of NEWS. According to journalism texts, 

some western experts have defined NEWS as “an account of something real” (Campbell & 

Roland, 1961), “something that has actually happened” (Harriss, Johnson & Leiter, 1981), 

“truthful and complete accounts of the social world” (Altheide, 1976). The word “news” is 

derived from “new”. The etymological meaning of the word contains “new news” and “new 

report”, hence the core of “news” is “new”, that is, news is the important facts that readers 

should know but do not know. 

As a specific type of English, news English has its unique linguistic features and stylistic 

features. According to Crystal and Davy (1969), news English is a synthesis and blend of many 

different news writing features. The most basic function of news is to report news events in a 

timely manner. Therefore, Zhang Jian (1994) believes that news English generally refers to 

English with news features used in the news, in line with the requirements of news reports and 

news dissemination. As a branch of news English, English football news is not just a collection 

of numbers, nor a simple description of victory and failure. English football news is the 

information about current football events written in English. This may be provided through many 

different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic 

communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. 

There are four main types of football news: hard news, feature stories, depth reporting 

and column (Zhang Jicheng, 2001). Hard news, also called “live news” is to tell readers the 

process of events in a straightforward manner. Feature stories can be any event related to football, 

that is, an interesting event that can draw the readers’ attention on the spot, rather than grasping 

the game from a global perspective. The basic difference between hard news and feature stories 

is that hard news tells readers about the course and outcomes of the game, and feature stories are 

usually for entertaining readers. Depth reporting attempts to link news events with other events 



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or reports; so that news events will contain the author’s point of view. The Column is the free 

land of football news. Columnists can judge, make recommendations and even talk about 

themselves. Writers have the priority to creatively express personal opinions. Among these four 

types, hard news relatively shows the universal style of sports news and has objectivity, thus in 

the present thesis, the author focuses on hard news. 

 

2. Basic Features 

Because of the difference in field and tenor, English football news has its own unique features. 

As for the field, football news covers a broad range, including games, clubs, athletes and training. 

And football news is mainly to meet the interest of football fanciers. Therefore, the language of 

football news is not as formal as politics, economics and technology. Compared with non-sports 

English news, English football news reveals its own characteristics: 

(a) Football news has a wide range of audiences. With people’s strong desire to 

participate directly or indirectly in football, football news has received widespread attention. 

Besides football is inspiring and encouraging to readers. (b) Football news is strongly 

international. There are a lot of international exchanges in football, and football news has 

become the main means of information transmission for this “international society”. (c) Football 

news is always on schedule, without shifting to an earlier or later date. Different from other 

events, Football events are predetermined and provided in terms of time and place. In order to 

ensure fair competition, the competition arena, competitors and time are stipulated and cannot be 

changed at random. 

 

Introduction to Stylistics 

The thesis studies the stylistic features of English football news reports under the framework of 

stylistic and other linguistic theories. The purpose of this part is to provide a theoretical 

framework for stylistic analysis, first analyzing the definition of style and stylistics, and then 

introducing stylistic analysis. 

 

1. Style and Stylistics 

The Longman Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Dictionary points out that stylistics 

are changes in a person’s conversation or writing. Generally speaking, it changes from being 

casual to being formal based on the situation, the interviewers, the place and the topic being 

discussed or vice versa. That means the style refers to the linguistic diversity of users in a 

particular language on different occasions. However, scholars have different views based on 

different perspectives. 

 

Crystal and Davy (1969) propose four common interpretations of style:  

(a) Style refers to a person’s unique language habits of speaking or writing, such as 

Shakespeare’s style and Mark Twain’s style. 

(b) Style refers to the common language habits of a group of people at one time or for a period of 

time. For example, the style of public speech, legal documents and news discourse. 

(c) Style has the meaning of evaluation, which refers to the validity of the expression. This 

means saying the right words in the right way, such as someone's speech with a specific 

persuasive style. 

(d) Style only refers to the literary language. 

Leech and Short (1981) define the term “style” in the following way:  



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(a) Style is a way of using language. 

(b) Style includes choices made from language expression 

(c) Style selection is limited to language selection, involving alternative methods for proposing 

the same subject. 

(d) Style is in terms of specific areas of language use. 

 

In short, style means the language habits of a person or group of people in a particular situation. 

Different situations tend to produce variants of different language use, which in turn produces 

different linguistic features. Therefore, style involves the level of discourse context. 

As the name suggests, stylistics is a study of style. Since the perspectives of the definition 

of style have different interpretations, different linguistics and scholars differ in the 

comprehension of the definition of stylistics. Leech and Short (1981) define stylistics as a study 

of language use in the field of literature and see it as a collection of linguistics and literature. 

Turner (1973) argues that stylistics is a part of linguistics and focuses on changes in language 

applications. Chinese scholar Xu Youzhi (2005) also emphasized in the book English Stylistics 

Course that modern stylistics is a discipline that explores the style of language use based on the 

concepts and means of modern linguistics. It generally consists of two parts: general stylistics 

and literary stylistics. The latter focuses on the study of stylistic features in various literary works, 

while the former includes the study of the characteristics of various styles. Football news reports 

in this article belong to general stylistics. 

 

2. Stylistic Analysis 

Language is seen as a system consisting of multiple units, such as phonetics, vocabulary, and 

grammar. The English language is composed of its phonetic patterns, grammatical rules and a 

large number of vocabularies. As a branch of linguistics, stylistics studies the linguistic features 

of different languages at different levels in a scientific and systematic way. In order to capture 

the stylistic features of the text, we must strictly describe the attributes of the text and perform 

stylistic analysis at different levels so that people can better handle any text they want to learn. 

Crystal and Davy (1969) propose a way to achieve the overall goal of stylistic analysis, that is, to 

study a particular language or text and to describe and explore it based on a series of interrelated 

language levels. These levels include phonetics, graphics, syntax, lexis, and semantics. The 

number and nature of research at each level are determined by the researcher based on the 

convenience of the work at hand. This thesis will study English football news from the three 

levels of lexis, syntax and semantics. 

 

STYLISTIC FEATURES AND EFFECTS OF FOOTBALL NEWS 

Discourse is inseparable from context. There are three concepts that are concerned with 

situational context introduced by Halliday and Hasen (1976). It is the field of discourse, tenor of 

discourse and mode of discourse. The field of discourse refers to what is going on during the 

communication process and the social activities actually taking place. The tenor of discourse 

means the social relationship between the participants. The mode of discourse is the channel or 

medium of communication. Therefore, the reliability of the research results is taken into 

consideration, and the author considers the variability of context factors as much as possible, and 

limits the field of discourse to English football news related to the World Cup from June 14 to 

July 15, 2018. The mode of discourse is limited to the official website of the Russian World Cup. 



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The following part summarizes the stylistic features of English football news from the level of 

lexis, syntax and semantics. 

 

Lexical Level Features 

The lexical level refers to the choice of a particular word, the position of the word in the sentence 

and the meaning of the word. In different contexts, individual vocabularies tend to be different 

patterns, which is closely related to style. Experienced journalists are skilled at dealing with the 

vocabulary of materials, whether formal or informal, complex or simple. At this point, the choice 

of words depends not only on the subject, the reader, but also on the author's language ability. 

The study mainly analyzes English football news reports from these aspects: technical terms, 

abbreviation, nicknames neologism and number. 

 

1. Technical Terms 

Technical terms refer to the unified terms for something specific in a particular field. The 

meaning of the terminology is precise, single, and not emotional, and generally does not need to 

be understood by context. Each industry has vocabularies and phrase groups dedicated to that 

field. There are specific words and preferred grammatical forms in the technical field. Some 

words or a collection of words can even represent one field (Xu Youzhi, 2005). Understanding 

football terminology is the first step of reading football news. Football news uses a large number 

of professional terms in the description of various football games. Those words or phrases are the 

biggest obstacles for laymen, especially second language learners, to understand the texts. 

However, “understandability” is the most obvious feature of the technical terms in English 

football news compared to terms in other fields. In order to continuously expand its influence 

and market value, almost every sport will try its best to attract more people’s interest. Thus, 

compared with terms in science and economy, the technical words of football are easier to 

understand. Here are some examples: 

(1) Antoine Griezmann’s lofted free kick from the French right was nodded into his own net 

by Mario Mandzukic. (July 15, 2018) 

Free kick is a way to restart the game after a foul in a football match. Free kick in football can be 

divided into direct free kick (the kicker can directly score the ball into the goal of the offending 

team) and indirect free kick (the kicker must not score directly, and the ball must be touched by 

other players before entering the goal). 

(2) A cross from the French right-hand side was handled by the Croatia No4, with a penalty 

awarded after a VAR review. (July 15, 2018) 

Cross is a technical movement and tactic that is often used in football matches. It refers to a 

medium-to-long-range pass from a wide area of the field towards the center of the field near the 

opponent’s goal. It intends to create an angle that allows the forwards to aim for the goal more 

easily. There are four types of cross: chipped cross, in swinging cross, out swinging cross and 

grounded cross. Penalty is short for “penalty kick”. It is a free kick at the goal from the penalty 

spot, which is awarded to the attacking team after a foul within the penalty area by an opponent. 

As can be seen from the above examples, technical terms in football are mostly words with 

special usage. All industries, to different levels of degree, have codes associated with a particular 

field of activities. The more specialized the field, the more technical words will be. Therefore, 

the number of technical words involved in different sports news is also different. Among all 

kinds of sports, the technical terms of football should be relatively more. Below are some more 

examples: lofted ball, take kick, offside trap, corner area, right back, forward, long pass, 



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deceptive movement, overhead kick, level the score and so on. These words make up the unique 

lexis of English football news. 

 

2. Abbreviations 

English football news is concise and includes as much news information as possible within a 

limited space, hence abbreviations are widely used. Abbreviations is a shortened or contracted 

form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole. Abbreviations can replace a lengthy or 

complex set of words or phrases. In this way, it can save the number of words in news, and make 

the readers feel simple and easy to remember, while making rational use of space. The most 

common type of abbreviations in English football news is acronyms. Acronyms refer to the word 

formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a 

compound term. 

The abbreviations that often appear in English football news are mainly divided into three 

categories: (a) Names of organizations and events: AFC=Asian Football Confederation, FIFA= 

Fédération Internationale de Football Association, UEFA= Union of European Football 

Associations, CSL= Chinese Super League; (b) Names of football clubs: Barca=Barcelona, 

Juve=Juventus, MUFC=Manchester United Football Club; (c) Conventional football terms: 

MVP=Most Valuable Person, VAR=Video Assistant Referee, VS=versus.  

 

3. Nicknames 

The extensive use of nicknames is a unique and interesting stylistic feature in English football 

news. Nicknames refer to names that are generally accepted by football news practitioners and 

football audiences in addition to official names. In football news reports, the player’s nickname 

is often used to represent his real name.  

(3) and Les Bleus emulate their heroes of 1998－including coach Didier Deschamps in 

securing their second World Cup title. (July 15, 2018) 

Les Bleus in English means “The Blues”. It refers to the France national football team. France 

national football team is given this nickname by the media and supporters because of the blues 

shirts each player wear. 

(4) Modric certainly believes that every member of the Vatreni squad can leave Russia with 

heads held high and memories that will last a lifetime. (July 15, 2018) 

Vatreni squad refers to Croatia national football team. The Croatian team’s home jersey is made 

up of red and white plaids, so it is called “the Vatreni squad”. Unlike most teams’ solid or lined 

shirts, Croatia’s shirts are unique on international football stage. 

The use of nicknames in football news not only makes the article more vivid, but also gives 

readers a sense of intimacy. Therefore, compared with other styles of news reports, football 

reports pay more attention to vividness and life-orientation. The use of nicknames is a way to 

achieve this goal. 

 

4. Neologism 

Language has constantly changed with the development of society, so a large number of new 

words have emerged in the mass media. Neologism refers to new words or words that have 

acquired a new meaning. The composition of neologism usually includes the old words given 

new meaning, the use of hyphens to combine two or more words to construct new words, or to 

directly create new words. Perhaps the tension and excitement of football matches are more 



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likely to inspire enthusiasm and inspiration. Journalists of English football news are very good at 

creating and using neologism. Below are some examples: 

(5) It also underscored why…, against Nigeria and a Lionel Messi-spearheaded Argentina, is 

among the forerunners for the adidas Golden Glove. (July 10, 2018) 

Lionel Messi-spearheaded is a compounded new word in which “Lionel Messi” is an Argentine 

professional football player who serves as captain of Argentine national football team and 

“spearhead” means to lead an activity or organized effort. This new word succinctly emphasizes 

the information of the Argentine national football team to the reader. 

(6) We spoke afterwards to the Budweiser Man of the Match, a newly-crowned World Cup 

champion. (July 15, 2018) 

Newly-crowned is also a compounded new word which is often found in English football news. 

These new words are often related to characteristics of sports teams, games and tactics, such as 

joint-leading, free-kick, sweetly-struck and hat-trick. These neologisms are vivid and full of 

creativity. 

The use of these new words has greatly increased the vividness and appeal of English 

football news. In addition, news reports pursue novelty and uniqueness, and the use of neologism 

can give readers a refreshing feeling. 

 

5. Numbers 

In football news reports, the number contains a lot of information, which is one of the indicators 

to measure the value of football news reports, and is also a very important stylistic feature. 

Examples are as follows: 

(7) The 32-year-old appeared determined to savour the present before turning his attention to 

the future. (July 14, 2018) 

(8) France have won the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia after defeating Croatia 4-2 in a 

thoroughly entertaining Final…. (July 15, 2018) 

(9) In both the Champions League final in 2015 and the UEFA EURO 2016 final, I ended up 

with the taste of defeat. (July 14, 2018) 

(10) With four goals in all at Russia 2018, he is France’s second highest scorer at a single 

World Cup after Just Fontaine, who struck an incredible 13 goals at Sweden 1958. (July 

15, 2018) 

The number in Example 7 is used to describe the football players and is often used to describe 

the athlete’s height, weight, age and so on. The number in Example 8 is used to describe the 

score of the game, which is common in football news reports; the number in Example 9 is used 

to describe the concept of time. Football news is known for its timeliness and the accuracy of 

time is very important in football news. The number in Example 10 is used to describe the record 

of a certain athlete or club. In football news, these records can be guidance for future predictions 

of the game. 

Through these numbers, readers can quickly grasp the time of the game, the score, the 

distance, the difficulty of the action and other information. The numbers also help readers get 

information quickly and comprehensively while reflecting the authenticity of the news. 

 

Syntactic Level Features 

Syntax focuses on the internal structure of sentences and how those sentences function in 

sequences. Analysis of the syntactic feature in football news is an important step when we 

analyze the stylistic features of English football news.  



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As a secondary type of news English, football news English must conform to the basic 

characteristics of accurate, brief and intelligible of news English. In addition, due to the 

timeliness of football news and the limitations of the layout, football news English has formed 

some characteristics that are different from general English. The comprehensive analysis of the 

syntactic level of this paper can help English learners understand the sentence characteristics of 

English football news. The author will conduct the analysis of English football news from two 

aspects: thematic structure and singular form of a plural concept. 

 

1. Thematic Structure 

In stylistics, theme refers to the initial unit of a clause. Subject is the person or thing about whom 

the statement is made. In English football news, the theme and subject of most short sentences 

are overlapped, which is called unmarked theme, which can make the order of the sentences tend 

to be normal, reduce the pressure of reading, and meet the requirements of information 

transmission. Below are some examples: 

(11) Ivan Perisic worked tirelessly throughout the 120 minutes, and his goal sparked a 

Croatian comeback. The Inter Milan man could even have had a decisive brace in 

normal time, denied only by the woodwork. (July 11, 2018) 

In this short paragraph, “Ivan Perisic”, “his goal” and “The Inter Milan man” all serve as both 

the theme and subject of each clauses, which makes the narrative clear and easy to understand, 

thus saving readers’ time and effort in reading. These features account for a large proportion of 

English football news. 

(12) On Saturday they will set about securing third place, which would be the country’s best 

ever World Cup placing. (July 11, 2018) 

Marked themes also exist in English football news, but the number of marked themes is 

relatively small compared with the unmarked theme. Besides, almost all marked themes are 

adverbial clauses, not objective clauses. This is because the objective theme completely reverses 

the word order which is full of drama color. The football news reports mainly focus on 

transmitting information, and do not focus on the description. In addition, the adverbial themes 

in the football reports are mainly adverbial of time, place, condition and concession, which is 

used to explain the time, place and necessary conditions of the events. In example8, the subject 

of the clause is “they” while the theme of the clause is “On Saturday” used to tell readers the 

time of the game. 

 

2. Singular form of a Plural Concept 

Like other English news, the syntactic features of simple sentences and extended simple 

sentences, passive voice, and simple present tense are more used in English football news. 

However, compared with other news English, the unique syntactic features of English football 

news are reflected in the singular form of a plural concept. According to English grammar, the 

singular noun subject must be followed by a singular verb, and the plural noun subject must be 

followed by a plural verb. But in English football news, when the subject of a sentence is the 

name of a club or team, predicate verbs often are plural forms. Here are some examples: 

(13) Belgium meet France on Tuesday seeking a spot in the World Cup Final. (July 10, 2018)  

(14) Croatia have reached their first FIFA World Cup Final, coming from behind to defeat 

England… the decisive strike. (July 11, 2018) 

According to the general grammatical rules, these sentences undoubtedly violate English 

grammar: the singular form of the noun subject follows the plural form of the predicate verb. But 



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in these examples, the singular form of the subject: Belgium refer to Belgium national football 

team and Croatia refer to Croatian national football team. Their forms are singular, but actually, 

they include all members of the national team, so the following predicate verbs are in plural form. 

 

Semantic Level Features 

Semantics is devoted to the study of meaning. Semantic deviation refers to “the generation of 

linguistic effect involves a particular change in the cognitive sense of a language unit, such as a 

word or phrase” (Hu Zhuanglin, 2000). The level of semantics concentrates on how the cohesive 

devices, discourse pattern, rhetorical devices contribute to the meaning of the text as a whole. In 

English football news, semantic deviation is often realized by rhetorical devices, which can make 

the language vivid and easy to understand. In this article, the writer will focus on rhetorical 

devices to analyze the meaning of the text as a whole. 

 

1. Metaphor 

Metaphor is a figure of speech that directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may 

provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas. Metaphor connects things that 

seem to be unrelated. It helps to create the appeal that non-visual language does not have, and 

enables information recipients to understand the spirit of information more vividly and deeply, 

aiming to make the specific image of the news stand out. Compared with the simile, the use of 

metaphor is more flexible and more vivid, therefore, metaphor is widely used in English football 

news. Below are some examples: 

(15) The Belgians swarmed all over their opponents going forward, while remaining 

watertight at the back. (July 10, 2018) 

The reporter compares the Belgian football team to a large group of insects. It vividly shows the 

oppression and fast movement of Belgian football players, creating imaginative images for the 

readers.  

(16) Late in the game, as their opponents pushed forward… the contest, Batshuayi entered 

the fray. (July 10, 2018) 

(17) England primed for midfield battle royale (July 10, 2018) 

The above two examples connect the two different fields of the battlefield and football-field, 

which can not only render the fierce atmosphere of confrontation in the game, but also satisfy 

people’s “heroic complex” and “victory complex” 

The use of these metaphors not only allows us to understand the characteristics of the football 

field, but also highlights and emphasizes the characteristics of football events, providing viewers 

with a new perspective on football, and inspiring people's imagination and association. 

 

2. Hyperbole 

Hyperbole also called overstatement is a very common rhetoric device in English football news. 

Hyperbole is the use of rich imagination to purposefully enlarge or reduce the image features of 

things on the basis of objective reality. It can highlight the essence of things, strengthen the 

author's feelings, and arouse the reader's rich imagination and resonance. Here are some 

examples: 

(18) It was only afterwards that we realised the scope of what we did, when we saw the 

surge of supporters – a sort of human tsunami. (July 12, 2018) 

In this example, “tsunami” refers to an extremely large wave in the sea caused by an earthquake. 

The journalist describes the surge of France’s supporters as human tsunami after France won the 



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1998 FIFA World Cup. This exaggeration leaves a strong impact on readers and fully 

demonstrates the success of the French national football team. 

(19) I’m not someone who talks a lot, but I do work my socks off. (July 13, 2018) 

This word is used to describe Pavard, France’s unexpected heroes in the 2018 World Cup. “work 

my socks off” is a kind of exaggeration, which reveals Pavard’s unimaginable efforts out of the 

games indicating that his hard work will finally get paid off. 

3. Personification 

Personification is a rhetorical figure that attributes human nature or character to animals, objects 

or abstract notions. Personification can make readers feel more intimate, enhance the appeal of 

news, enrich language expression, and make the smooth game process full of life. Below are 

some examples: 

(20) Lifting England’s disappointed heads, less than 72 hours after their World Cup dream 

slipped away, will be a real test for Gareth Southgate. (July 13, 2018) 

In this example, “slip away” means to go somewhere quietly and quickly, especially without 

being noticed. The reporter attributes human behavior to “World Cup”, which vividly tells 

readers that England’s dream of World Cup cannot be realized after they were defeated by 

Belgium. 

(21) “It’ll go down as a successful World Cup for us, but I'm convinced that even better 

awaits us in the future.” (July 14, 2018) 

This sentence is said by Eden Hazard, a famous Belgian footballer, after Belgium won the 2018 

FIFA World Cup Russia bronze medal. The word “await” fully demonstrates the optimistic 

attitude of Eden, indicating that they will not stop and will strive for better results in the ensuing 

matches. The use of personification allows readers to virtually feel the temperature and emotions 

of the news content. 

 

CONCLUSION 

For a long time, the research of English football news has not attracted enough attention from 

scholars. Based on the theory of stylistics, this thesis makes a comprehensive analysis and 

description of the stylistic features of English football news from three levels. At the lexical level, 

the use of technical terms, abbreviation, nicknames, neologism and numbers highlights the 

uniqueness of English football news in lexical use, thereby saving space, increasing readability 

and narrowing the distance between news editors and readers; at the syntactic level, the special 

stylistic features of English football news are mainly reflected in the unmarked theme and 

singular form of a plural concept; the use of rhetorical devices such as metaphor, hyperbole and 

personification to achieve semantic variation reflects the stylistic features of English football 

news at the semantic level. 

On the theoretical level, this study broadens the research field of English football news 

and provides guidance for practical stylistic researches. On the practical level, this thesis allows 

Chinese news English editors to understand the characteristics of English football news in depth, 

and gives hints for future news editing work, thus promoting the football communication of 

China with the outside world to some extent.  

Although this thesis contributes to the research of English football news, there are still 

some shortcomings in this thesis: this thesis is confined only to a lexical-, syntactic- and 

semantic-level stylistic study of English football news reports from a macroscopic perspective. 

However, due to time and space constraints, the microscopic perspective research at each level 

will be dealt with in the future. 



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AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS 

Conceptualization:  Jing Huang, Fang Yue 

Data Curation: Fang Yue, Jing Huang 

Formal Analysis: Jing Huang 

Funding Acquisition: Shuo Cao 

Project Administration: Shuo Cao 

Software: Fang Yue 

Validation: Jing Huang, Fang Yue 

Writing – Original Draft: Jing Huang 

Writing – Review & Editing: Shuo Cao 

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT 

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.  

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 

19BYY088). 

 

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Crystal, D., & Davy, D. (1969). Investigating English Style. Bloomington, IL: Indiana 

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Halliday, M. & Hasen, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman. 

 

Harriss, J., Leiter, K., & Johnson, S. (1981). The Complete Reporter. New York, NY: 

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Hu, Z. L. (2000). Theoretical Stylistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research 

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Leech, G. N. & Short, M. H. (1981). Style in Fiction. London: Longman. 

 

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Xu, Y. Z. (2005). English Stylistics. Beijing: Higher Education Press. 

 

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Zhang, J. C. (2001). Practical Sports English. Beijing: World Publishing Corporation 

 

Copyrights 

Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the 

journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative 

Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) 

 

 


