The job
Sort the sentence before you fight about it. Same words can mean four different kinds of thing. Your confidence should match what you can actually show, not how hard the clip hits.
Four kinds of sentence
1 | Said
Someone claimed itOutlet, official, whistleblower, partner, poll. You can check that they said it without deciding the thing is true.
2 | You can point at a document
A primary carries itPress release, filing, hearing transcript, agency table, court exhibit. The page says the thing you're scoring. Still read the exact words.
3 | Familiar shape
It rhymes with something you've seenFamiliar sequence, rhyme across cases, belief poll, "this is how they always do it." A shape is a question generator. It is not a closed case.
4 | Story about motive
Why they did it / what happens nextWho planted it, why they lied, what will blow up next. Score later against documents and outcomes. Until then: you can't show it yet.
Worked example 1: they said it, and the document matches
Paraphrased | teaching example
Claim as heard: According to the lead agency on the case, the devices recovered that day were viable and could have caused serious injury or death.
What kind: Said. It can move toward "you can point at a document" if the primary matches.
What would lock the "they said it": On-record agency language calling the devices viable or operable.
How it lands: The agency field office did use that viability language in a public release. The attribution holds. That still does not identify who planted anything. Keep the process fact separate from the motive story.
Worked example 2: they said it, the underlying fact still fights
Paraphrased | teaching example
Claim as heard: According to a whistleblower and matching outlet coverage, an intelligence agency offered pay or career incentives to bury a sensitive origin finding.
What kind: Said (allegation). Not automatically a document you can point at.
What would prove the fact: Contemporaneous memos, emails, or a sworn documentary trail of a pay-off offer. Not just the allegation repeating.
What would weaken: Formal agency denial plus no public documentary proof of payment for conclusions.
How it lands: The cite can match (committee release + outlet paraphrase). The claim as fact stays open when the agency denies and the pay-off paper trail is not public. Do not upgrade "they said it" into "document" because the story feels complete.
Worked example 2b: attribution holds, fact still disputed
Paraphrased | teaching example
Claim as heard: According to the official in charge, key phone data in the investigation was corrupted.
What kind: Said on attribution. The underlying corruption claim is a separate fact question.
How it lands: On-record testimony can match the "corrupted" paraphrase. Later, major providers can tell Congress they did not supply corrupted data and were never notified of access problems. Attribution stands; the fact still fights. Do not collapse those two into one jersey win.
Worked example 3: familiar shape and polls
Paraphrased | teaching example
Claim as heard: A majority of likely voters believe an agency helped cover up a family scandal.
What kind: Familiar shape if you treat belief as a pattern-of-suspicion; "said" (poll) if you only score the poll number.
How it lands: A named poll can support the belief percentage. Belief is not proof of a cover-up. Keep the kinds honest or you will fight the wrong fight.
How to use this on the next drop
- Write the exact claim in one sentence.
- Ask which kind it is before you argue: said, document, familiar shape, or motive story.
- Write one thing that would weaken it.
- Refuse to upgrade "they said it" into "document" without a primary you can point at.
- Refuse to treat a familiar shape or a motive story as settled because the pattern "fits."
Same standard on your side and the other side. Confidence matches evidence. Not jersey.
Practice next (free):
Book 11: The Drop and the Document | one real dump, claim by claim, without treating every sentence the same.
Modern World Test field card | five questions before you share a claim tonight.
Method Constitution | ten principles on the doorway.