Hedged Reported Speech — The Peacock's Job Interview
Grammar: Reported speech nuance
Free ESL grammar exercise on hedged reported speech themed around the peacock's job interview. Printable worksheet from classplan.ai.
What's on this worksheet
A Level 4 (upper intermediate) ESL grammar exercise on science, practising reported speech nuance. The worksheet has a short reading excerpt, a grammar reference and graded practice items.
From the reading
The evolutionary biologist Amotz Zahavi proposed what is now called the handicap principle. He claimed that a costly, risky display is honest precisely because it is costly. A peahen allegedly reads the tail like a résumé.
Grammar: Reported Speech Nuance
- Hedged reporting
- She is said to have impressed the panel instantly. — reporter distances from certainty
- Allegedly / claimed to
- He allegedly claimed to have no nerves at all. — signals doubt without stating it
Sample items
- People believe the interviewer favoured one candidate from the start.
- Reports suggest the company rejected over two hundred applicants.
- Some say Darwin struggled to explain the peacock's tail.
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