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I did my English homework and I searched this sentence. They said that it's "Elvis has died age 79"

Can I use "Elvis died at the age of 79" instead? Is it still correct? Can you explain? (I hope my grammar isn't wrong.)

herisson
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Phan Mai Chi
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  • That particular phrasing is "headlinese", a way of writing news headlines to make them shorter. It's not normal English. No one would say that out loud, or write it in a regular sentence, unless they were being charged by the letter. – 1006a Apr 22 '18 at 03:54

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You can certainly say "Elvis died at the age of 79" (although if we're discussing the singer, he was 42 when he died).

Here's an example of its use (this is not by way of citing a reference, simply an example of someone using it), from the Wikipedia article on the 27 Club:

In 2011, seventeen years after Cobain's death, Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27

Many more examples are readily found.

The big difference between your sentence and the original is the original implies that the death has just occurred, while yours doesn't carry that implication.

If the Elvis in question died some time ago, your phrasing is a better way to put it than the original.

The phrasing of the original sentence you quote (particularly "age 79" in that context) sounds distinctly American to my ear; not being from the USA I'd have used the "has" phrasing slightly differently ("Elvis has died at the age of 79" or perhaps "Elvis has died aged 79").

We can see examples of several slightly different phrasings in the case of a recent death with Verne Troyer having just died:

Austin Powers actor Verne Troyer dies aged 49

(BBC news)

Here "dies" conveys the fact that this is a current event, not historical.

Verne Troyer, 'Mini-Me' in Austin Powers films, dies at 49

(CNN)

The "at 49" here rather than "aged 49" is a common alternative.

Mini-Me dead: Verne Troyer dead at 49

(news.com.au)

Here, again "dead" rather than "died" conveys the fact that we're discussing a current event. However, to say "dead at 49" is perhaps a little stark for some people, and from what I've seen that direct phrasing would be less common in the mainstream media in the USA, but would not be rare in Australia.

Glen_b
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