The words news is made of
Think of one story you have actually read or heard about in the last week. Not a headline — something you read to the end.
Hold it. First, eight words that appear in almost every report.
Eight expressions from news writing. Match each to what it actually tells you.
One meeting, two reports
A city council has been running a cycle lane on a main road for a year. A report published on Tuesday gives the usage figures. Two outlets covered the same meeting.
Version one
The council said on Tuesday that the cycle lane has increased daily cycling journeys on the corridor by 31 per cent. Officers acknowledged that overall traffic speeds have fallen, and argued that this was consistent with the scheme’s stated aims.
A local business group claimed that trade had suffered. The council pointed out that the group had not provided figures, and said it would publish a fuller assessment in June.
Version two
The council claimed on Tuesday that the cycle lane had increased daily cycling journeys by 31 per cent. Officers admitted that overall traffic speeds had fallen, and insisted that this was what the scheme had been intended to do.
A local business group said that trade had suffered. The council conceded that no figures had been provided, and promised a fuller assessment in June.
Five questions. The two versions report the same facts. Every difference is a verb or a tense.
1. Version one says the council said; version two says it claimed. What changes?
2. Version one has officers acknowledged; version two has them admitted. What does admitted add?
3. Argued against insisted. What does insisted suggest?
4. Version one: the lane has increased journeys. Version two: the lane had increased journeys. What does the shift do?
5. Which version is more sympathetic to the council?
Where the position hides
What each reporting verb claims, before you have said anything
| Verb | What it signals about the content | What it signals about the speaker |
|---|---|---|
| said | Neutral | Nothing |
| claimed | The writer is not vouching for it | Possibly overstating |
| admitted / conceded | True, and damaging to the person saying it | Was reluctant |
| revealed | True, and previously hidden | Is providing information |
| insisted | Repeated against resistance | Possibly unconvincing |
| argued | A reasoned position, treated as legitimate | Is reasoning |
| alleged | Unproven, and often legally sensitive | Is accusing |
| denied | Presupposes an accusation already exists | Is on the defensive |
And the tense, which is the part nobody notices. Backshift is not compulsory. She said the meeting is at three treats the content as still live. She said the meeting was at three puts distance between you and it — sometimes only the ordinary distance of reporting, sometimes more.
Which is why he said the earth was flat reads differently from he said the earth is flat, although both are grammatical and neither says anything explicit about the writer.
Six sentences of a news summary, out of order. Put them into the order a report is built in.
- A local business group claimed that trade had suffered as a result.
- The council published its first-year assessment of the cycle lane on Tuesday.
- A fuller assessment is due in June.
- Officers acknowledged that traffic speeds had fallen, and argued that this was intended.
- The council pointed out that the group had provided no figures.
- It said that daily cycling journeys on the corridor had risen by 31 per cent.
Choosing the verb on purpose
Six gaps. Choose the reporting verb that matches the position described in the sentence around it.
The company that no customer data had been lost, although it has not published the review. It later that the system had been offline for eleven hours, which it had previously described as "a brief interruption". A former employee that the fault had been known about since March; the company this. Regulators that the response had been slow, and the company that it would report again in six weeks.
Seven sentences. One error each — some grammar, some stance.
1. He said me that the meeting was cancelled.
2. She denied to take the money.
3. They accused him to leak the report.
4. The minister admitted that the policy is a success. — a claim in her favour
5. He suggested me to apply.
6. The report revealed that the scheme might be a failure. — nothing has been established
7. She insisted the truth about the figures.
The story you actually read
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 3 minutes each, twice
Summarise the story you thought of at the start, to somebody who has not seen it.
Three minutes. Then your partner reads you a list, and you do it again.
- Say what happened, who said what, and what is disputed.
- Do not give your own opinion. Report only.
- Round two: same story, and every claim must be attributed to somebody by name or role.
- Round two also: use at least four different reporting verbs, and mean each one.
Listener’s job. Write down every reporting verb, in order. Nothing else.
At the end, read the list back. Then ask one question about each verb that is not said or told: "did you mean that?"
What three minutes produced
Five sentences of the kind this task produces. Fix each.
1. The government said that they will review it, and the opposition said that it is not enough. — attribute both sides distinctly
2. He denied that he took the money and he said that he is innocent.
3. The scientist said me that the data was incomplete.
4. They admitted that the new policy will work well. — this is their own claim
5. The report accused the company of fail to act.
The verb is a position
Three questions. Thirty seconds.
1. What does claimed do that said does not?
2. Is backshift compulsory?
3. Why does a summary made entirely of said lose its analysis?
Next. Four pieces of real reporting language — and the difference between what a sentence says and what it lets you conclude.