Hedging in journalism — When a Story Becomes a Flood
Grammar: Hedging language — epistemic modality, vague language, and stance markers in journalism
Free ESL grammar exercise on hedging in journalism themed around when a story becomes a flood. Printable worksheet from classplan.ai.
What's on this worksheet
A Level 6 (proficiency) ESL grammar exercise on media, practising hedging language — epistemic modality, vague language, and stance markers in journalism. The worksheet has a short reading excerpt, a grammar reference and graded practice items.
From the reading
Phrases like sources suggest, it is believed that, reports indicate, and officials are said to have are not evasions. They are epistemic flags — signals to a careful reader that the claim being made rests on incomplete evidence.
Grammar: Hedging Language
- Epistemic hedge
- Signals uncertain sourcing. The minister is believed to have resigned overnight. — claim rests on incomplete evidence
- Reporting verb
- Distances the writer from the claim. Sources suggest the algorithm penalises slower posts. — claim attributed, not asserted
Sample items
- The minister ______ to have misled parliament about the data.
- ______ indicate that the algorithm favours emotionally charged headlines.
- The platform ______ well have suppressed the original post.
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