Hearing the case behind the words

Languages · Texts, Media & Translation · ages 15-16

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Which of these is evidence rather than opinion?
- The shameful vote last Tuesday
- The obvious best plan
- The study counted 400 voters
How do you state a writer's claim in one sentence?
- Copy the longest sentence word for word
- Strip the adjectives and say what the writer wants you to believe
- Count how many paragraphs the piece has
Hedging words like may and possibly make a claim sound more careful and harder to attack.
Circle one: True False
A sentence says some critics argue the plan may fail. What does the hedging do for the writer?
- It makes the claim harder to attack
- It proves the plan failed
- It quotes an exact number
A writer calls a policy heroic and its critics corrupt. What is the writer doing?
- Quoting study results
- Using loaded wording to push your feelings
- Hedging to sound careful
A piece repeats one claim, stacks friendly facts, and ends telling readers to sign a petition. What is its purpose?
- To entertain
- To inform
- To persuade
Ida reads a German opinion piece, translates each word, and stops. What step is she missing?
- Looking up every noun twice
- Asking what the writer is doing with the literal meaning
- Memorising the article
Two articles report the same march. One writes brave change makers, the other troublemakers. What do you check first?
- Which facts each kept or dropped, and which adjectives each chose
- Which article is longer
- Which article was printed first

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

The study counted 400 voters · Numbers can be checked, while shameful and best only ask you to feel.
Strip the adjectives and say what the writer wants you to believe · Removing loaded adjectives leaves the bare point the writer pushes.
True · Softeners shrink the target, so critics find less to hit.
It makes the claim harder to attack · May and some critics argue soften the claim into a safer shape.
Using loaded wording to push your feelings · Heroic and corrupt steer emotion rather than offering checkable support.
To persuade · Repeated claims plus friendly evidence plus a call to act spell persuasion.
Asking what the writer is doing with the literal meaning · In a new language the job runs twice: literal meaning, then rhetorical move.
Which facts each kept or dropped, and which adjectives each chose · Selection plus adjectives reveals each writer's point of view.