Collocations for Confident Communication
READ • QUESTION • VERIFY • REPORT
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A strong news story does more than attract attention: it verifies information, cites reliable sources and serves the public interest.
Responsible print journalism turns attention into understanding: it checks facts, explains context and keeps the public interest in view.
Explore the readingLexiLink · The Media: In Print B2 80 minutes
Complete the tasks, investigate media collocations in SkELL, and write a short analysis of responsible print journalism.
Teacher-facing timing plan; the tasks below follow this sequence.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use collocations for print journalism, analyse how headlines frame a story, check sources and evidence, and write a short news analysis grounded in responsible reporting.
Study each complete word partnership, its meaning and related expressions before starting the tasks.
Read the text carefully or listen to it. Target collocations are shown in bold.
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A newspaper can shape what readers notice first. A front-page story often focuses on an event with major public consequences, while breaking news reports an important development as it happens. Yet a dramatic title is not proof that a story is accurate. A misleading headline may exaggerate a claim, omit essential context or suggest a conclusion that the article itself does not support. Readers should therefore examine the full news report, not judge a story by its headline alone.
Responsible journalists verify information before publication. They check documents, compare accounts and gather evidence rather than relying on a single social-media post or an anonymous rumour. They try to use a reliable source, explain where a claim came from and cite a source when evidence needs to be traced. When a story includes a serious allegation, reporters may conduct an interview with the people involved and give relevant parties a fair opportunity to respond.
Editorial choices matter too. A newspaper may publish an article to explain a complex issue, investigate a public concern or raise public awareness of a problem that has received little attention. Good investigative journalism can require time, careful research and the examination of records that are not immediately easy to interpret. Its purpose should be connected to the public interest, not simply to attract attention or embarrass an individual.
Trust also depends on the organisation behind a story. A responsible news outlet should protect editorial independence, allowing journalists and editors to make evidence-based decisions without improper pressure. Press freedom makes it possible for reporters to ask difficult questions and scrutinise powerful institutions, but freedom does not remove the duty to be accurate and fair. A newspaper’s print edition may reach readers who do not follow its website, while thoughtful media coverage can help communities understand an issue beyond the first announcement.
Mistakes can still happen. When a newspaper discovers a significant error, it should issue a correction clearly rather than quietly leaving readers with a false impression. Editors should also be cautious before they circulate a rumour or repeat an unverified claim. A publication earns trust over time by separating evidence from speculation, correcting errors openly and treating the reader as someone who deserves context, not just a dramatic headline.
Choose True or False according to the text.
Choose the paragraph number (1–5). Some paragraph numbers may be used more than once.
Complete each media-related collocation by selecting the missing word or phrase. Feedback appears after you check your answers.
Choose the collocation that best fits each newsroom context. Unanswered items stay unanswered until you check.
Open SkELL. Search each keyword in Word Sketch, inspect example sentences and open Similar words. For every keyword, record two collocations in different grammatical patterns where possible, write an original sentence for each, add two synonyms or related words, and note a short example or context you checked. A related word is not automatically an interchangeable synonym; test the substitution in context.
Choose the one expression that does not form a natural collocation. The questions cover headlines, sources, interviews, editorial decisions and fact-checking. Each item has three natural combinations and one incorrect combination. Unanswered items stay hidden; explanations appear only after you choose and check.
Choose the verb or verb phrase that creates a natural collocation about responsible print journalism.
Choose the verb that creates a natural lexical collocation.
Word bank: front-page story · breaking news · reliable source · misleading headline · conduct an interview · verify information · issue a correction · gather evidence · editorial independence · public interest
Choose the best correction. Focus on natural lexical word partnerships used in print journalism, source verification, corrections and responsible reporting.
Write at least 100 words evaluating a printed news report or explaining the responsibilities of a newspaper. Use at least eight target collocations from this lesson. Write directly in the box; clipboard paste and drag-and-drop are disabled in this field.
Please compose your paragraph here rather than pasting a prepared text. Normal paste, cut/copy shortcuts and drag-and-drop are blocked in this writing field. This browser restriction supports the task rules but is not a complete plagiarism-detection system.
0 words — 100-word minimum to submit; no maximum
Teacher awards up to 5 points for accurate use of distinct target collocations, a clear main idea and relevant examples about print journalism.
Your name and group from the student profile above, your SkELL collocations and original sentences, related words, corpus notes, writing paragraph and available exercise scores will be collected in the teacher's spreadsheet.
Auto-scored sections: reading MCQ, True/False, paragraph matching, Matching, Sentence Completion, Odd One Out, Find the Collocate, Sorting, Lexical Cloze and Collocation Repair (100 points total). SkELL cluster (10) and productive writing (5) are teacher-scored. Maximum lesson total: 115 points.
Vocabulary bank informed by the Lesson 16 topic, “The Media: In Print,” in the supplied collocation lesson collection. Definitions, reading and interactive exercises were adapted or written for LexiLink.
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