France Starts Investigation into Jamal Khashoggi's Death

🕵️ Action Words: The 'Past' Story

When we tell a story about something that already happened, we change the action words. Look at these changes from the text:

• Go $\rightarrow$ Went (He went to the office)
• Say $\rightarrow$ Said (Lawyers said no)
• Do $\rightarrow$ Did (He did not order it)

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💡 Simple Secret: The 'S' Rule

In the text, we see a pattern when one person does something now:

The judge $\rightarrow$ wants The judge $\rightarrow$ looks

Rule: If it is one person (He, She, or a Name), add an -s to the action word.

• I want $\rightarrow$ The judge wants
• They look $\rightarrow$ The judge looks

⚡ The Power of "Hedge" Verbs & Nuance

At the A2 level, we usually say things are true or false. But to reach B2, you must express possibility and uncertainty. In legal and professional English, we rarely say "This is a crime"; instead, we say "There is a possibility that it was a crime."

🔍 Spotting the 'Softeners' in the Text

Look at how the article avoids being too direct. This is called hedging. It protects the writer from being wrong.

• "...claims that..." $\rightarrow$ (The writer isn't saying it's a fact, just that someone claims it).
• "...possibility that..." $\rightarrow$ (It might be true, it might not).
• "...decide if there is enough evidence..." $\rightarrow$ (The outcome is not yet certain).

🛠️ Upgrade Your Speech: From A2 to B2

Stop using "maybe" for everything. Use these structures to sound more sophisticated:

A2 (Simple)	B2 (Nuanced/Professional)
Maybe he did it.	There is a possibility that he was involved.
They say it is a crime.	They claim that it constitutes a crime.
I think this is true.	Evidence suggests that this is the case.

💡 The 'Preliminary' Logic

Notice the word "preliminary step." An A2 student says: "It is the first part." A B2 student says: "It is a preliminary stage."

Key Tip: When describing a process (a project, a trial, or a study), use preliminary to show that more work is coming later. It transforms a basic sentence into an academic one.

The Architecture of 'Legalistic Neutrality'

To bridge the gap from B2 to C2, a student must move beyond simple synonymy and master Register Calibration. This text is a masterclass in Nominalization and Hedging used to maintain institutional distance. At C2, you don't just describe an event; you curate the level of certainty and formality to shield the writer from liability while remaining precise.

⚡ The Pivot: From Verb-Driven to Noun-Driven Prose

B2 learners write using actions (verbs). C2 writers use conceptual anchors (nouns).

• B2 Approach: "The case started in July 2022 because the Prince visited France."
• C2 Approach: "The procedural trajectory of this case originated... coinciding with a visit..."

Notice how "procedural trajectory" transforms a simple timeline into a formal legal path. The action is no longer about people doing things, but about processes unfolding. This is the hallmark of high-level academic and judicial English.

🔍 The 'Surgical' Lexis of Precision

Observe the use of terms that carry heavy semantic loads, reducing the need for long explanations:

*"The factual substrate of the inquiry..."

"Substrate" is an unpredictable choice here. By borrowing a term from biology/chemistry (the surface or material on which an organism lives), the author suggests that the evidence is the foundation upon which the legal case is built. This is Metaphorical Extension, a key C2 competency.

⚖️ The Art of the 'Nuanced Negative'

C2 mastery requires navigating the space between assertion and allegation. Look at how the text avoids definitive accusations through specific syntactic structures:

1. Predicated on the hypothesis: Rather than saying "Because it might be," the author uses a formal structure that frames the logic as a theoretical premise.
2. Institutional positioning remains nuanced: A sophisticated way of saying "The agencies disagree," without using the word "disagree," which can sound too confrontational for a judicial report.
3. Does not constitute... but rather serves as: This corrective contrast allows the writer to manage the reader's expectations with absolute precision.

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C2 Takeaway: To elevate your writing, stop focusing on what happened and start focusing on the nature of the process by which it happened. Replace active-voice narratives with nominalized conceptual frameworks.