Headlines, attribution and hedging in the press
I can read a Hindi newspaper report and recognise what is asserted and what is attributed
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
सूत्रों के अनुसार बैठक स्थगित।
Meeting postponed, according to sources.
मामला दर्ज कर लिया गया है।
A case has been registered.
कथित रूप से आरोपी फ़रार है।
The accused is allegedly absconding.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
प्रधानमंत्री दिल्ली रवाना, बाज़ार में गिरावट. The auxiliary and often the main verb disappear; the reader supplies them.
The passive बताया जा रहा है puts distance between the paper and the claim, exactly as the English 'it is understood' does.
मौक़े पर पहुँची पुलिस, जाँच जारी है, मामला दर्ज किया गया. These recur so reliably that recognising them speeds reading enormously.
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesReading an attributed claim as the paper's own assertion.
Attributed claim read as asserted
batata ja raha hai distances the paper from the claim.
Headline read as an ungrammatical sentence
Headlines drop the verb, as Russian ones do.
सूत्रों के अनुसार बैठक स्थगित।
Meeting postponed, according to sources.
Headline with no verb and an attribution.
मामला दर्ज कर लिया गया है।
A case has been registered.
A stock phrase; the passive keeps the agent out.
कथित रूप से आरोपी फ़रार है।
The accused is allegedly absconding.
kathit rup se is the hedge, matching predpolozhitelno.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises
The Government of India standard for Devanagari spelling, followed for all written forms here.
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.