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How can I express that this morning I read parts of a newspaper and not the entire paper? If I say "I read the paper this morning" it means the entire paper, so that would be wrong. But "I read parts of the paper" doesn't sound right at all. What would be the right expression? I read some articles this morning?

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  • RE: If I say, "I read the paper this morning," it means the entire paper... That is a fallacy, a flawed conclusion.
    – J.R. ♦
    Jul 11, 2018 at 17:44
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    There is nothing wrong with; I read parts of the paper this morning. But I'd check out the verbs in the answer below.
    – Lambie
    Jul 11, 2018 at 22:04
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    A very related phrase is used when you want to share with someone what you found in the paper, something like: "While I was reading the paper, I saw an advertisement for English classes." Many phrases saying what you read in the in the paper start with an introductory "While I was reading the paper" or "As I read the paper" or "In the paper this morning" type of statement. Take note that any of these constructions do not indicate how much of the paper you have read, so they are also perfectly fine to use both if you read only parts of a newspaper and if you read it all.
    – Davy M
    Jul 11, 2018 at 22:40

3 Answers 3

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Actually,

  1. I read the paper

does not exactly suggest you read the entire thing. People generally don't read the entire paper. We understand that you typically read the parts that interest you. You might want to specify "I read the entire paper." Someone might congratulate you.

  1. I read parts of the paper

is fine. It does mean that you partially read the paper. 1 is implicit about not reading the whole thing, whereas it is explicitly expressed in 2.

  1. I read some articles this morning

is also correct. 3 is simply more specific about what you read (articles). However, "articles" does not necessarily refer to ones found in the newspaper. You can find articles in other media, so be careful.

I think you might be interested in skim, glance through, and thumb through:

  • skim
    : to read, study, or examine superficially and rapidly; especially : to glance through (something, such as a book) for the chief ideas or the plot
    (M-W)
  • glance through something
    to look quickly at the contents of something. I glanced through the manuscript, and I don't think it is ready yet. Would you glance through this report when you have a moment?
    (TFD)
  • thumb through something
    to turn the pages of a book, magazine, or a document quickly and only read small parts of it: "Have you read the report?" "Well, I thumbed through it quickly while I was eating breakfast."
    (Cambridge Dictionary)
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    Also take a look at and peruse. Note that dictionaries may not agree on the definition of peruse, Cambridge: "to read or look at something in a relaxed way:" vs. Oxford: "Read (something), typically in a thorough or careful way."
    – Andrew
    Jul 11, 2018 at 18:54
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How can I express that this morning I read parts of a newspaper and not the entire paper?

You could say

I read only some of the paper this morning.

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Colloquially, I feel like the expression:

I looked through the paper

is closest to what you mean.

The phrasal verb look through is defined as:

If you look through something that has been written or printed, you read it

also:

to examine, esp, cursorily : he looked through his notes before the lecture

Source: Collins

Also, Macmillan says:

to read something quickly, especially to find the information you need

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