Report what "people say" without ever naming them — the language of news and rumour.
Newspapers, gossip and formal writing all need a way to say "people say / people believe / people think..." without pointing at a single person. English does this with reporting structures — a special passive that lets you stay neutral and sound objective. Compare:
Master both patterns and your English instantly sounds like a journalist: careful, formal and impossible to blame, because you never say who is doing the saying.
There are two ways to build a report from a verb like say, believe, think, report, know, expect, consider. Choose whichever fits your sentence.
| Structure | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Impersonal | It + is/was + V3 + that + clause | It is believed that he is very talented. |
| Personal | Subject + is/was + V3 + to-infinitive | He is believed to be very talented. |
Start with It, add a passive reporting verb, then that + a normal clause. This is the safest, easiest pattern — the clause after "that" keeps its own tense.
| Reporting verb | Impersonal report | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| say | It is said that she has left. | people say so |
| believe | It is believed that the exam will be harder. | the general belief |
| report | It is reported that ten people were hurt. | news language |
| know / think | It is known that the site is ancient. | accepted as fact |
Take the real subject out of the "that" clause and put it at the front. The reporting verb stays passive, and the second verb becomes a to-infinitive.
The little word after the subject can carry different times. Match the infinitive to the time of the original action.
| Original idea | Infinitive form | Personal report |
|---|---|---|
| a present fact | to + verb | He is said to live in Paris. |
| happening now / around now | to be + -ing | He is thought to be living abroad. |
| a finished, earlier action | to have + V3 | He is said to have won a gold medal. |
The reporting verb itself can be present or past. It tells us when the report was made, not when the action happened.
| Report time | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| now (current rumour) | She is said to have left the country. | people say so today |
| then (report in the past) | She was said to have left the country. | people said so at the time |
| past report, past action | The ship was believed to have sunk. | at that time, people believed it |
These are the errors B2 students still make with reporting structures. Check your own writing against every row.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| He is said that he is famous. | He is said to be famous. | the personal form never uses "that". |
| It is said him to be famous. | It is said that he is famous. | the impersonal form needs "that" + a clause. |
| She is believed to won the prize. | She is believed to have won the prize. | a past action needs "to have + V3". |
| They said to be very kind. | They are said to be very kind. | the reporting verb must be passive (are said). |
| He is thought to living abroad. | He is thought to be living abroad. | an ongoing action needs "to be + -ing". |
Two friends share the latest school gossip. Read it twice and watch how the reporting structures let them repeat rumours without taking responsibility for a single one.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the words of news and gossip, then report what "people say" in your own sentences.
Write 8 sentences about a piece of news, a famous person or a rumour you have heard. Report what people say without naming them. Use at least 8 of the words above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): rumour · reputation · sceptical · anonymous · verify · speculation · eyewitness · controversy
Few names spark as much curiosity as that of Elias Ward, the inventor who disappeared from public life more than twenty years ago. He is said to have built his first machine at the age of twelve; moreover, by thirty he was believed to be one of the most brilliant inventors in the country. Then, quite suddenly, he vanished.
For teenagers today, Ward is less a figure from a history lesson than a shared obsession. In classrooms and group chats across the country his name is passed around like a puzzle that nobody can quite solve. Teachers report that whenever a lesson touches on famous inventors, at least one student will raise a hand and ask what really happened to him. Short videos retelling his story are said to gather millions of views, and each new version adds a detail that the last one lacked. Although none of these accounts can be checked, they are repeated with total confidence, as if the person filming had once met Ward in person.
It is widely reported that Ward now lives alone in a house high in the mountains. Some claim he is still working; indeed, he is thought to be developing a device that could change the way we store energy. Other people, however, insist that the stories are pure invention.
Much of what young people believe about Ward has been shaped online rather than in libraries. It is often claimed on social media that he still sends coded messages to former students; moreover, some accounts insist that a blurry figure filmed near a mountain village last winter was the inventor himself. None of this has ever been proven. Nevertheless, the theories spread from one phone to the next within hours, and a rumour that begins as a joke on a Monday can be treated as established fact by Friday. Teachers who try to calm the excitement often find that a careful correction travels far more slowly than a dramatic guess.
What is known for certain is very little. Although it is said that he refuses all interviews, it is believed that only three people have seen him in the last decade. His former best friend was once thought to have quarrelled with him; nevertheless, she now says almost nothing. Since that time, the rumours have only grown.
At one secondary school the mystery even became the subject of a formal debate. Members of the debate club were asked to argue whether a person like Ward has the right to disappear completely, or whether the public is owed some kind of explanation. The team defending his silence argued that curiosity does not create an obligation; the opposing side replied that a figure so widely admired cannot simply switch off the world's interest. Since neither team could rely on confirmed facts, both were forced to reason from the little that is genuinely known. The judges later said that the contest had taught the students more about evidence and rumour than any textbook chapter could. Interest did not stop at the school gates, either: the recording of the debate was uploaded that evening and, within a week, students from other towns had left hundreds of comments, most of them adding fresh theories of their own rather than answering the actual question.
Journalists have not given up. Last year a reporter was said to have tracked him down; therefore, the whole country waited for proof. Yet no photograph ever appeared. The article was later shown to be false, whereas Ward's silence remained as complete as ever.
A group of students once decided to investigate the case for a class project rather than simply repeat what they had heard. They collected every article they could find, sorted the claims into 'proven', 'possible' and 'invented', and were surprised by how small the first column turned out to be. Whereas the internet offered them dozens of confident stories, the project left them with only a handful of facts they could actually verify. The exercise, their teacher noted, was really a lesson in how a legend is built: not from what a person does, but from what other people are willing to imagine on their behalf. Ward, it seemed, had become famous less for his inventions than for his absence. When the students presented their findings to the class, several classmates admitted that they had shared stories about him without ever pausing to ask where those stories had come from in the first place.
What makes the story so appealing to young people is perhaps that it mirrors their own experience of being online. They know how quickly a single post can be shared, exaggerated and misunderstood; they have watched a harmless photo turn into a scandal overnight, and a small mistake swell into a headline. In that sense Ward's legend is a warning as much as an entertainment. If an inventor with a genuine record of work can be buried under invented stories, then anyone with a phone can be reshaped by a crowd that has never actually met them. Learning to ask "who really confirmed this?" therefore matters far beyond the case of one missing engineer.
Ward himself has never confirmed or denied a single rumour. Perhaps that is the point. A man who says nothing is soon surrounded by stories, and each new tale is repeated until it is taken for fact. Whether Elias Ward is a genius or simply an ordinary man who wanted to be left alone, nobody can say for sure.
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Mind the reporting structure (is / reported / thought / have / believed).
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. Why does the writer say that "what is known for certain is very little"?
2. How does Ward's silence affect the way stories about him spread?
3. Do you think a famous person has the right to complete privacy? Why or why not?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: moreover, however, although, nevertheless, since, therefore, whereas, yet. (You will use these same connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
John and Patricia discuss whether technology is changing people for better or worse.
You will hear a conversation: John and Patricia debate whether technology is changing people in a good or a bad way, and where its progress matters most. You will listen TWICE. First listen: answer questions 1-5. Second listen: answer questions 6-10. (Kaydı İKİ kez dinleyeceksin: ilk dinlemede 1-5, ikinci dinlemede 6-10.)
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
At B1 you linked ideas with and, but, so, because. At B2 you sound noticeably more advanced when you use formal, precise connectors. Four of them are essential this unit — and two familiar ones, although and however, become sharper tools.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| moreover | add a stronger, extra point | It is rumoured he has left our school. Moreover, his locker is empty. |
| therefore | show a logical result | No one could verify it; therefore, the story was dropped. |
| whereas | contrast two ideas directly | One paper is sceptical, whereas another prints every rumour. |
| nevertheless | say "in spite of that" | The claim was false. Nevertheless, people believed it. |
| although | concede a point inside one sentence | Although it is only speculation, the coverage is huge. |
| however | contrast between two sentences | He is said to be guilty. However, there is no proof. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Basic linking ✗ | Confident B2 writing ✓ |
|---|---|
| There was a rumour. It was not true. People believed it. The news showed it. Then it stopped. | A strong rumour appeared, although nobody could verify it. Nevertheless, it is said to have spread within hours; moreover, it received huge coverage. However, no eyewitness was ever found; therefore, the story quietly died. |
A "what people say" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | A topic sentence with an impersonal report | It is widely said that our striker will leave this summer. |
| 2. Body | Report the rumours. Use personal reports (is believed to be...), "to have + V3" for finished actions, and past reports (was said) for older stories. Link with B2 connectors. | He is believed to be unhappy; moreover, a rival club is reported to have made an offer. |
| 3. Closing | A final comment giving your own opinion | Nevertheless, until it is verified, I treat it as pure gossip. |
Write about a famous person, event or piece of news that is surrounded by rumours or different opinions. Report what people say, believe and think — do not state everything as fact.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + listening. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
İşaretlemediğin madde varsa ilgili bölüme dönüp tekrar çalış — soldaki menüden her bölüme geri dönebilirsin.
Oturum kontrol ediliyor...