Step 99: News at Speed
Figurative language — Metaphor in business and nature
📖 Read — One Stadium, Two Headlines
Nashville is building a stadium, and the same event produced two different mornings. Paper A: “CITY APPROVES NEW STADIUM PLAN.” Paper B: “MAYOR RAMS THROUGH COSTLY STADIUM SCHEME.” Spot the loaded words: B chose rams through (force) and scheme (a suspicious plan) over approves and plan. Same facts — different music. Media English grades its verbs: neutral (announce, report, state), warm (hail, praise, welcome), and hostile (slam, blast, axe, rip off).
Headlines also speak in code: the present simple reports the past (Mayor Opens Bridge = opened), and the infinitive promises the future (City to Build Stadium = will build). Sources hide in fog, too: “critics claim”, “experts warn”, “sources say”. A C1 reader hears the foghorn. A headline is not the news — it's the news wearing makeup. Read twice; decide once.
🧩 Grammar — Media Vocabulary — Bias and Tone
Read news like an editor: 1. Headline grammar: present simple = recent past; to + verb = future (City to build…); articles and 'be' are dropped (Man arrested [= A man has been arrested]). 2. Verb temperature: neutral (announce, report, confirm), positive (hail, praise, boost), negative (slam, blast, axe, scrap), stormy (vow = firm promise, warn = danger ahead). 3. Source fog: named source (the mayor said) vs fog (critics claim, sources say). 4. Loaded nouns: plan vs scheme, group vs mob, reform vs shake-up. Your job: strip the makeup, keep the facts.
- “Team Wins Cup” = The team won the cup (past).
- “City to Build Library” = The city will build a library.
- Neutral: The minister announced a tax. Loaded: The minister slammed workers with a tax.
- “Critics claim…” — which critics? Fog alert!
🏗️ Key structures
- Headline present → past event — “Fire Destroys Warehouse” = it destroyed it last night.
- Subject + to + verb → future — “Schools to Open in March” = will open.
- Verb temperature: say → claim → slam — He said / He claimed / He slammed the plan.
⭐ Idiom & natural phrases
Take online rumors with a pinch of salt.
🔤 New words
the title of a news article, in large letters
The headline surprised everyone.
an unfair preference for one side in reporting or judgment
Good readers detect bias.
where information comes from; a person who gives news facts
Name your sources.
say something is true, possibly without proof (verb and noun)
Critics claim the plan is too costly.
a person who judges or disapproves of something publicly
The mayor's critics spoke loudly.
a person with authority in an organization or government
Officials confirmed the date.
the feeling or attitude in a voice, text, or headline
The article's tone was hostile.
the reporting of an event by media (uncountable)
The election received worldwide coverage.
🎧 Say it with me
Paper A announced a plan; Paper B slammed a scheme. Same stadium! I take headlines with a pinch of salt — check the verbs, ask for the source.
🎤 Your turn to speak
Take one event and headline it twice: once neutrally, once with loaded words — then explain what you changed.
Say it out loud three times. Even better: record it on your phone and listen — your ear is your best teacher.
✍️ Your turn to write
Write two headlines for the same event (a city planting 10,000 trees) — one neutral, one loaded — then 3 sentences explaining the loaded choices.
See a model answer
NEUTRAL: “City to Plant 10,000 Trees in Spring Project.” LOADED: “Mayor Splashes Cash on Vanity Tree Scheme.” The loaded version attacks with its verbs and nouns: 'splashes cash' suggests wasteful spending, 'vanity' mocks the mayor's motives, and 'scheme' turns a public plan into something sneaky. Same trees — different music. A critical reader strips the adjectives and asks what actually happened.
Self-check: capital letters? Full stops? Did you use the grammar of this step?
📝 Quick check
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