Cambridge C2 Transformations: Reporting Stance and Complementation

Reporting verbs do more than introduce a proposition:

The director admitted that the estimate was optimistic. The director claimed that the estimate was optimistic. The director conceded that the estimate was optimistic.

All three report the same embedded idea, but the speaker’s relation to it changes. Admit accepts an unwelcome truth, claim reports an assertion without guaranteeing it, and concede accepts a point after resistance or as a limitation in an argument.

Cambridge C2 Proficiency Reading and Use of English Part 4 contains six transformations with a three-to-eight-word gap, including an unchanged key word. The task tests grammar, vocabulary, and collocation. This article focuses on reporting stance and the complement patterns that preserve it.

Use the Cambridge C1/C2 vocabulary practice hub and Exam English for more task-specific practice.

A stance ledger

Before changing the reporting frame, record:

• source: who holds or voices the proposition;
• commitment: assertion, acceptance, denial, doubt, or no commitment;
• interaction: spontaneous statement, response to accusation, concession, or insistence;
• evidence distance: writer endorsement, neutral attribution, or explicit reservation;
• proposition: the exact content being reported;
• time and modality: what was possible, necessary, completed, or still disputed.

Preserving the proposition alone is insufficient if the source moves from denial to uncertainty or from reluctant concession to confident assertion.

Reporting frames and boundaries

Deny doing; deny that

Deny + gerund rejects responsibility for an action:

She denied altering the record.

Deny that + clause rejects a proposition:

She denied that the record was inaccurate.

Do not use deny to do. Also distinguish deny from refuse: refusing to answer does not deny the allegation.

Admit doing; admit that

Admit + gerund accepts that one performed an action. Admit that accepts a proposition. It often implies reluctance or that the fact is damaging:

The supplier admitted overlooking the warning.

Changing admitted to said loses stance even if content survives.

Concede that; concede a point

Concede marks reluctant acceptance, often of a counterargument or limitation:

The authors conceded that the sample was small.

It can also take a noun: concede the point. It does not usually take the same object-plus-infinitive pattern as acknowledge someone to be in formal constructions.

Insist on doing; insist that

Insist on + gerund/noun can demand an action or maintain one’s own choice:

She insisted on checking the figures herself.

Insist that + clause can assert that something is true or demand that it happen:

She insisted that the figures were correct. She insisted that the figures be checked.

The proposition and verb form determine assertive versus directive meaning.

Attribute to; put down to

To attribute X to Y assigns a cause or source. Put X down to Y is a less formal near-equivalent:

Analysts attributed the decline to higher costs. Analysts put the decline down to higher costs.

Neither necessarily endorses the causal explanation when embedded under another source: “The report attributes...” maintains distance.

Be said to; according to

The passive reporting frame is said to + infinitive leaves the original speaker unspecified:

The archive is said to contain a missing draft.

Perfect infinitive preserves earlier time:

The archive is said to have contained the draft.

According to the curator identifies a source but does not itself mean the writer accepts the statement.

Six original transformations

These items are original practice, not Cambridge sample, recalled, leaked, or predicted questions. Use three to eight words including the unchanged key.

1. Denied action

Rosa said that she had not removed the label.

DENIED

Rosa ______ the label.

Answer: denied having removed (3 words)

Rationale: deny + perfect gerund rejects responsibility for the earlier action. The perfect form preserves its time before the denial.

2. Reluctant acceptance

The authors reluctantly accepted that their sample was too narrow.

CONCEDED

The authors ______ too narrow.

Answer: conceded that their sample was (5 words)

Rationale: conceded captures reluctant acceptance of a limitation. Claimed would remove acceptance and create attribution distance.

3. Maintained assertion

Even after the criticism, Ivo maintained that his calculation was correct.

INSISTED

Even after the criticism, Ivo ______ correct.

Answer: insisted that his calculation was (5 words)

Rationale: the that-clause reports a proposition Ivo continued to assert. Insisted on calculating would change the content into an action preference.

4. Causal attribution

The report explained the decline as the result of higher maintenance costs.

ATTRIBUTED

The report ______ maintenance costs.

Answer: attributed the decline to higher (5 words)

Rationale: attribute X to Y preserves causal assignment and the report remains the source. The sentence does not automatically make the article writer endorse that explanation.

5. Unspecified source and earlier event

People say that the manuscript disappeared during the move.

SAID

The manuscript ______ during the move.

Answer: is said to have disappeared (5 words)

Rationale: passive reporting removes the unspecified people. The perfect infinitive preserves disappearance before the present reporting state.

6. Refusal is not denial

Mina would not say whether she had approved the change.

REFUSED

Mina ______ she had approved the change.

Answer: refused to say whether (4 words)

Rationale: Mina withholds an answer. The sentence must not become denied approving, which would report a negative position absent from the source.

Mechanical audit

Every answer is within the official C2 three-to-eight-word range. Fixed words outside the gap are not counted.

Complementation changes stance

Compare two insist frames:

The analyst insisted that the model was reliable.

This is an assertion about reliability.

The analyst insisted on testing the model again.

This is a strong demand or determination concerning an action. Replacing one complement with the other changes the proposition, even though the reporting verb remains constant.

The same applies to deny:

He denied leaving early.

He rejects the claim that he left early.

He was denied permission to leave early.

Here deny means refuse someone something; he is not making a statement. Grammar identifies the stance structure.

Attribution is not endorsement

Consider:

The museum attributes the marks to water damage.

This tells us the museum’s explanation. A writer can report it while remaining neutral. Rewriting it as “Water damage caused the marks” removes the source and promotes an attributed explanation to fact.

Likewise:

The painting is believed to date from 1820.

The passive reporting frame maintains evidential distance. “The painting dates from 1820” asserts the date directly. At C2, this difference is part of meaning preservation, not optional style.

Stance diagnostic

Choose the accurate interpretation.

1. “The manager denied changing the figure.” Did the manager reject the allegation or decline to discuss it? Rejected it.
2. “The manager refused to say whether the figure had changed.” Did the manager deny change? No; no position is reported.
3. “The manager conceded that the figure was misleading.” Is acceptance presented as easy and enthusiastic? No; concession suggests prior resistance or an adverse point.
4. “The manager insisted that the figure was accurate.” Is this necessarily proof? No; it reports the manager’s maintained assertion.
5. “The report attributed the difference to rounding.” Does the writer necessarily endorse the cause? No; the report is the source.
6. “The file is said to have existed.” Does this directly assert existence? No; it reports an unspecified source and preserves distance.

Common errors

• Using deny to do instead of deny doing/having done.
• Turning refusal to answer into denial.
• Replacing concede with a neutral reporting verb and losing reluctant acceptance.
• Confusing assertive insist that with directive insist on doing.
• Reversing attribute X to Y.
• Removing the reporting source and presenting an attributed explanation as fact.
• Using a simple infinitive after is said when the reported event occurred earlier and requires to have done.
• Losing modality inside the reported proposition.
• Altering the key or exceeding the three-to-eight-word limit.

A C2 verification method

Underline the original source and label the stance: denial, concession, maintained assertion, causal attribution, unspecified report, or refusal. Box the proposition and mark its time. Build the new complementation frame around the unchanged key. Then read the result as a sceptical outsider: does it report the same person’s position, or has it turned that position into objective fact?

Finally, count the gap and test every auxiliary. A perfect gerund or perfect infinitive often carries the earlier-time relationship that a shorter answer loses.

Independent practice

Create six transformations covering denial of an earlier action, reluctant concession, insistence that a proposition is true, attribution of a cause, passive reporting of an earlier event, and refusal to answer. Provide a stance ledger, completion, and count. For each item, explain one tempting rewrite that changes source commitment or complement meaning.

Sources

• C2 Proficiency exam format — Cambridge English
• C2 Proficiency preparation — Cambridge English
• C2 Proficiency Part 4 teaching material — Cambridge English
• C2 Proficiency handbook for teachers — Cambridge English

Related articles

• Cambridge C2 Key Word Transformations: Meaning and Collocation
• Cambridge C2 Vocabulary: Precision Beyond C1
• Cambridge C2 Open Cloze: Grammar and Fixed Phrases
• Cambridge C2 Part 1: Collocations and Shades of Meaning

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