Matching game
According to whom? Nested attribution in a dense French report
Track nested attribution in French expert prose. Match a claim to its original speaker, its reporter and the narrator’s actual commitment.
- C2
- 6 pairs
- Tap to match
- Learn this in the C2 notebook →
In short
Unpack attribution from the outside in. In Léa rapporte que Karim cite une estimation du syndicat : le dispositif réduirait les absences, the union supplies the estimate, Karim cites it and Léa reports that relay. Reporting a claim is not the same as guaranteeing it.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Long source chains can make a confident-looking proposition seem authorless. Mark the reporting verb, each attributed voice and any modal signal. The following newly authored cases specify who endorses, questions or merely repeats the content.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
Keep three questions separate
| Question | What to record |
|---|---|
| Who first supplies the claim? | The named source of the estimate or view. |
| Who relays it here? | The intermediate reporter or quoted voice. |
| What does the current narrator commit to? | Reporting, endorsement, doubt or rejection. |
The conditional can mark reported information, but its value depends on context. In the first case, réduirait belongs to an attributed estimate; it is not a confirmed result. Do not translate it into an unconditional statement just because several speakers have repeated it.
A readable summary can shorten a chain without erasing its important layers: Léa rapporte une estimation syndicale relayée par Karim. If the dispute concerns whether the union ever supplied it, preserve that dispute rather than simplifying it into a union claim.