Judge a policy with words whose strength matches the evidence you have given.
Preview · progress not saved — Chapter 1 is free
One cautious government, two concluding sentences. Decide which one the evidence can pay for.
A government was advised in January that a shortage was likely. It commissioned modelling in March, received it in June, consulted the affected industries over the summer, and legislated in November.
Now two possible last sentences.
The response was prudent.
The response was timid.
Both are grammatical. Both are Band 7 vocabulary used correctly. Which one does that paragraph entitle you to write?
The dispute test, the three ways to write a verdict you cannot fully pay for, and the words here whose loading depends on the noun.
Run it on every evaluative adjective before you leave the sentence:
Could a reasonable reader dispute this adjective on the evidence I have given?
Not would anyone disagree with me — someone always will. The question is narrower: on what is written above this sentence, can the word be defended?
A Band 8 script is not one that avoids verdicts. It is one whose verdicts survive the test.
Eighteen phrases from policy writing. Sort them before anything tells you which way each word leans.
Sort each item into the correct category
Six verdicts, six pieces of evidence. Match each word to the thing you would have to have shown before you were allowed to write it.
Terms
Definitions
Six paragraphs, each ending one adjective short. Choose the strongest word the evidence can actually pay for.
Read only what the paragraph states. Then pick the strongest word it can pay for — not the strongest word that is true, and not the weakest word that is safe. In three of the six the answer is the plain word.
The paragraph states: the agency was warned in February, published a consultation in September, and issued guidance the following March. Nothing is said about what the delay achieved or what a faster route would have looked like. How should the paragraph end?
Three chains. Name the price of the word before you write it — and once, find the paragraph cannot pay.
Chain 1
The paragraph so far: The city spent £180m on the tram extension. Passenger numbers on the line are 8% of the forecast, the depot built to serve it has never opened, and no further phase is planned.
Candidates: well-funded / profligate
Step 1 — Profligate needs two things. Does the paragraph supply both?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: The extension was .
Chain 2
The paragraph so far: Ministers were advised in 2019 that the licensing gap existed. Legislation was introduced in 2023.
Candidates: slow / timid
Step 1 — What would you have to add before the critical word is defensible?
Step 2 — Therefore, as the paragraph stands, the expert writes: The government's response was .
Chain 3
The paragraph so far: The committee opposed the levy in March, opposed it again in June after the industry's submission, and announced its support four days after the industry became the region's largest employer.
Candidates: pragmatic / opportunistic
Step 1 — What in that sequence supplies the price of the critical word?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: The reversal appears .