Rumors

"It is said that the teacher Jessica Viviana is a geek because she spends hours in front of the computer. It is claimed that she doesn't have real friends as all her friends are virtual"

To tell a rumor we use a structure called IMPERSONAL PASSIVE.
To form it we use the impersonal It + verb to be + verb in past participle.

Apart from rumors, with this structure we can tell urban myths or legends, unpleasant news and when we want to sound modest.

"It is believed that Jessica Viviana is one of the best teachers."

This is because by saying " It is believed" I distance from the information I'm saying. We use this when we don't want to say "I belive that" or "they believe that"... "It is believed" is perfect!! Who believes it?... We don't know but it is believed she is one of the best teachers :D

· Apart from the verb ‘say’ we can use other verbs o perception such as:

acknowledge believe declare fear know report

suspect allege claim estimate feel project say think

assume consider expect find prove suppose understand

More examples:

It has been reported that cut onion might caused air pollution.

It was proved that KFC doesn’t use chicken for their products.

TASK

1. Are there any popular legends or urban myths going around now? Do you know any that was popular in the past? Tell your partners about the ones you know.

or

2. The rumor mill: Catching up with the news (Poniéndose al corriente)... You have heard some rumors about your partners share them with us!