Adaptation of Sentence Structures in News Texts: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Complexity Levels Using Halliday’s Functional Grammar
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Abstract
This study explored how sentence structures function in news texts with varying levels of complexity, focusing on grammatical and contextual features. Using a quantitative corpus-based method supported by qualitative interpretive analysis, the research examined 1,308 English news articles (155,435 words) collected from Newsinlevels.com (2022), a learner-oriented platform.
The findings revealed that simple sentences dominate (54%), followed by complex (23%), compound-complex (13%), and compound sentences (10%). The proportion of simple sentences decreased as complexity levels increased, while the use of complex and compound-complex structures grew-indicating a shift toward more nuanced communication. These patterns align with Halliday’s (1985) functional grammar framework, showing how sentence structures were adapted to maintain coherence, accessibility, and complexity in news discourse. However, the corpus’s reliance on Newsinlevels.com may introduce bias toward simplified syntax, suggesting the need for future studies to investigate cross-cultural and longitudinal developments in journalistic style.
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บทความที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์เป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของวารสารมนุษยศาสตร์และสังคมศาสตร์ นายเรืออากาศ
ข้อความที่ปรากฎในบทความแต่ละเรื่องในวารสารวิชาการเล่มนี้ เป็นความคิดเห็นส่วนตัวของผู้เขียนแต่ละท่าน ไม่เกี่ยวข้องกับโรงเรียนนายเรืออากาศฯ และคณาจารย์ท่านอื่น ๆในโรงเรียนนายเรืออากาศฯ แต่อย่างใด ความรับผิดชอบขององค์ประกอบทั้งหมดของบทความแต่ละเรื่องเป็นของผู้เขียนแต่ละท่าน หากมีความผิดพลาดใด ๆ ผู้เขียนแต่ละท่านจะรับผิดชอบบทความของตนเองแต่เพียงผู้เดียว
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