Breakdown of Об этом убийстве писали все газеты.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
писать
to write
газета
newspaper
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
Questions & Answers about Об этом убийстве писали все газеты.
Why does the sentence start with 'Об этом убийстве' instead of the subject 'все газеты'?
In Russian, the most important or new information usually goes at the end of the sentence. By putting все газеты at the end, the speaker emphasizes who was doing the writing. Starting with Об этом убийстве sets it up as the topic of conversation, like saying 'As for this murder, every single newspaper wrote about it.'
Since the articles are already published and finished, why do we use the imperfective verb 'писали' instead of the perfective 'написали'?
When stating a general fact in the past—simply acknowledging that an event took place—Russian often uses the imperfective aspect. Additionally, писали emphasizes the ongoing process and the collective, repeated nature of the action across many different newspapers, rather than a single completed result.
Why is the preposition 'об' used here instead of 'о'?
You use об instead of о when the very next word starts with a pure vowel sound. Since этом starts with the vowel э, we use об to make it easier to pronounce. Note that if the next word started with a hidden 'y' consonant sound (like the letters я, е, ё, or ю), you would still use the standard о.