English · Première générale · LVA · B1 towards B1+ · adapted version

Session 4: Campaigns, the press and the power of images

Read one step, do it, then move on. Answers are hidden: click to check.
Step one

Recap check

  1. What is the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico?
  2. Give one difference between Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
  3. Complete: ______ they are citizens, they cannot vote for president.
Answer key
  1. Puerto Rico's member of the House, elected for four years, who cannot vote on the final passage of bills.
  2. Washington, D.C. has three electors; Puerto Rico has none.
  3. Although / Even though
Step two

Look at the painting

Under the trees, a candidate on a small platform speaks to a crowd of rural citizens; behind him, a seated man takes notes.
George Caleb Bingham, Stump Speaking, 1853-1854, oil on canvas, 108 x 147.3 cm. Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Bank of America, 43:2001. Public domain. Museum record
Step three

Words to know

WordMeaning
a stump speechthe standard speech of a candidate on tour
to campaign, to canvassto try to win votes, to visit voters
biasednot neutral
to fact-checkto check that a statement is true
a soundbitea short sentence made to be repeated
Step four

Read, one sentence per line

  1. Stump Speaking is the first painting of Bingham's Election Series.
  2. A candidate leans forward to make his points to a crowd of rural citizens. Behind him, his opponent sits with a tablet and takes notes for his turn.
  3. In 1846, Bingham himself was a Whig Party candidate for the Missouri legislature. He won by three votes, but the election was contested and the seat was given to his opponent, Erasmus Darwin Sappington.
  4. According to the Saint Louis Art Museum, Sappington is the speaker shown in the painting.
  5. Bingham still wanted the painting to celebrate democratic elections for a national audience.

Source: Saint Louis Art Museum, Stump Speaking

Step five

Answer

  1. What is happening in the painting?
  2. What happened to Bingham in 1846?
  3. Who is the speaker, according to the museum?
Answer key
  1. A candidate gives a speech to a rural crowd; his opponent waits and takes notes.
  2. He won by three votes, but the election was contested and the seat was given to his opponent.
  3. Erasmus Darwin Sappington, his opponent.
Step six

Grammar

Reported speech: say (that) / tell someone (that) / ask if, what, why. With a reporting verb in the past, go back one tense: present → past, will → would, past → past perfect. "I will win," he said. → He said (that) he would win. Questions: "Who won?" she asked. → She asked who had won.

  1. "I care about farmers," the candidate said. → The candidate said .
  2. "We will lower taxes," they told voters. → They told voters .
  3. "Did you vote?" the reporter asked me. → The reporter asked me .
Answer key
  1. (that) he cared about farmers.
  2. (that) they would lower taxes.
  3. if I had voted.
Step seven

Your turn

Information or opinion? Classify: 1. Polls closed at 7 p.m. in Georgia. 2. This candidate is the only one who really cares about you. 3. The House has 435 voting members. 4. A disastrous night for the party. 5. The results will be certified by each state. 6. Voters sent a clear message. Then rewrite two opinions as neutral information.

Key points

Information: 1, 3, 5. Opinion or interpretation: 2, 4, 6. Example of a neutral rewrite: 4. The party lost seats. 6. One party won more seats than the other.

Step eight

Homework

Find one front page or website home page about the 2026 midterms (any English-speaking country). Copy one headline and say if it is information or opinion, and why.
Key points

Check: a source and a date; a justified answer (an information headline states a verifiable fact; an opinion headline uses judgement words such as disastrous, clear, historic).