Reporting verbs in EAP
This guide is not to do with reported or indirect speech and will
not cover the simpler reporting verbs such as say, tell,
exclaim, ask, enquire etc. For a guide to those matters
click here.
What follows assumes that the rules for reporting direct speech are familiar.
The following is most relevant to formal academic writing although
the concepts are generalisable. It is, therefore, of most
interest to people teaching EAP (English for Academic Purposes).
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Why is this important? |
Consider this:
Even the most
original academic paper integrates facts, ideas, concepts, and
theories from other sources by means of quotations, paraphrases,
summaries, and brief references.
(Campbell 1990, in Jordan, 1997:171)
It is unlikely, but not impossible, that learners of English for Academic Purposes will be producing the most original academic paper so the ability to insert summaries, paraphrases and citation appropriately, using the right reporting verb, is a key writing skill. Not least, of course, to avoid any whiff of plagiarism. Understanding the implications of reporting verbs is also a key reading skill to identify slant and angle.
Reporting verbs can be classified and presented in a number of ways and we can also, as we shall see, combine elements of the analysis to make the area accessible to learners.
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Classifying reporting verbs: attitude |
Reporting verbs are subtle but powerful signals of the writer's
attitude to the message being sent by a paraphrase or citation.
Compare, for example:
Guru states that ...
Guru presumes that ...
Guru claims that ...
Guru suggests that ...
Guru mentions that ...
Guru hypothesises that ...
One way to classify such verbs is to arrange them on a cline from tentative, through neutral to assertive. Something like this:
There are obvious problems with this, not least that opinions may
differ concerning the exact connotation each verb carries.
Such a classification does, however, have some classroom utility.
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Classifying reporting verbs: function |
Reporting verbs are used for a range of communicative functions. Presenting them from this standpoint, we can get something like:
This sort of presentation and analysis sits well with a communicative approach because it focuses clearly on the communicative value of the verbs.
However, one obvious problem is that some verbs can be synonyms
and some can perform multiple functions. There is not a great
deal of difference in meaning between, e.g.:
Guru proposes that we ...
and
Guru suggests that we ...
However, suggest is also polysemous in a way that
propose is not so we can also have:
The data suggest that ...
but not
*The data propose that ...
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Classifying reporting verbs: form |
The final way to classify these verbs in this guide is by
grammatical and lexical form. We need to look at concepts of
collocation and colligation here, especially the latter. This
might result in this kind of analysis:
but there are problems with that, too, some colligational, some collocational:
- Transitivity
- Some verbs in the lists are both transitive and
intransitive. We can have
Guru concedes the point that ...
Guru concedes that ...
Guru questions the conclusion
Guru questions whether ...
Guru proposes a solution
Guru proposes that ... - Some verbs are only intransitive. We can have:
Guru observes that ...
but not
*Guru observes the conclusion that ...
or
*Guru theorises a solution - Some verbs are only transitive. We can have:
Guru recommends a solution
and
Guru recommends that ...
but not
*Guru discounts that ...
or
*Guru discusses that ...
- Some verbs in the lists are both transitive and
intransitive. We can have
- Appropriacy of subject:
- Some of these verbs will collocate with inanimate subjects, some with animate only and some with both.
- Animate subjects can be used for most of them but some
can also take inanimate subjects. We can have, e.g.,
The study shows ...
Guru shows ...
The evidence indicates ...
Guru indicates ...
etc. - Some may only have animate subjects. We can have:
Guru hypothesises ...
Guru maintains ...
but not
*The evidence comments ...
or
*The facts allege ... - Some are open to metaphorical use,
assigning an action to an inanimate subject normally
reserved for people (pathetic
fallacy):
The study argues ...
The facts imply ...
The findings argue for ...
and some are not:
*The evidence describes ...
*The findings believe ...
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Combining the analyses |
We can weave aspects of all three analyses together to produce quite sophisticated analysis. For example, if we combine attitude with function we can produce something like:
and we can do similar things with many of the other functions.
It is also possible to combine functional and formal analyses:
It is even possible to go one step further and combine all three analyses but, at that stage, the data start to get impenetrable.
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Tense, aspect and voice |
Reporting verbs are frequently used in the present simple so that is not difficult to teach. Perversely, some lists of reporting verbs put all of them in the present simple 3rd person which is misleading at best. Two other tenses are also frequently used and multiple authorship is common. Here are examples of all three:
- Present simple. This is the most frequent form:
Guru notes that ...
The data imply ...
In that paper, Guru and Mentor propose ... - Past simple. This is frequently used for sources which
are older and have become seminal authorities in some way.
For example:
Guru (1949) identified ... - Present perfect. This is used a) when the writer needs
to emphasise the present relevance of a source or b) when the
sources are varied and (sometimes) not individually identified.
It is often used in the passive voice but need not be. For
example:
It has been noted (Guru, 2016) that ...
Guru (2010) has discovered that ...
Guru and Mentor (2000) investigated the structure of these complex substances and have shown that they are ...
It has often been asserted that ...
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Teaching and learning issues |
Here's an incomplete list of over 150 of the verbs commonly used to report the work of others in academic writing. It is unclassified by any of the three analyses considered above but a classified version is available from the next link.
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accept acknowledge add admit advise advocate affirm agree alert allege allow analyse announce appraise argue articulate assert assess assume assure attack aver believe blame cast doubt on challenge characterise claim clarify classify comment concede conclude concur confirm congratulate consider contend contradict contribute |
counter criticise critique debate decide declare defend define demonstrate deny depict describe determine develop disagree disapprove discard disclaim discount discover discuss dismiss disprove disregard doubt emphasise encourage endorse estimate evaluate examine explain explore express fault feel find forbid forget forgive |
guarantee guess highlight hold hope hypothesise identify ignore illustrate imagine imply indicate infer inform inquire insist interpret intimate investigate justify know list maintain mention note object (to) observe oppose outline persuade point out portray posit postulate praise predict present profess promise propose |
protest prove provoke put forward query question realise reason rebuff recognise recommend refer refute reject remark remind report restate reveal say scrutinise show speculate state stress study substantiate suggest support suppose suspect take into consideration take issue with tell theorise think throw light on underline understand urge |
A list which is categorised by function is available by clicking here.
Clearly, presenting learners with a list like this is not going to be a very productive approach. Somehow we have to help our learners eat the elephant so a piecemeal approach is the only practical way forward.
Before you can begin, you need to make a selection of the reporting verbs which will form the target of a teaching sequence. This site can't do that for you because there are some variables to consider first:
- Level:
- At lower levels, it may be adequate to focus on a short
list of frequently used neutral verbs. This might
include, e.g.:
state, mention, discuss, comment, show, suggest etc. - At higher levels, your learners need to start learning
about the attitudes that verb-use implies so the list can
start to extend to verbs like:
question, intimate, assert, demonstrate, discount, hypothesise etc. - Later yet, learners need to be alert to degrees of
assertion and argumentation so the list gets extended again
to include, e.g.:
maintain, portray, take issue with, profess, presume and so on.
- At lower levels, it may be adequate to focus on a short
list of frequently used neutral verbs. This might
include, e.g.:
- Register:
- Within the natural sciences, certain reporting verbs are
more frequently found. Often, they have inanimate
subjects such as data, experimental investigation,
observations and so on. Verbs commonly used with
inanimate subjects might include:
reveal, show, suggest, demonstrate, explain, confirm, (dis)prove etc.
so these become the targets for learners in those disciplines - within the social sciences, more tentative verbs are
frequent and they come with animate subjects so verbs like:
propose, suggest, imply, interpret, posit, postulate etc.
are more useful targets.
- Within the natural sciences, certain reporting verbs are
more frequently found. Often, they have inanimate
subjects such as data, experimental investigation,
observations and so on. Verbs commonly used with
inanimate subjects might include:
- Colligation:
It makes sense to introduce and practise those verbs which share colligational characteristics so, for example, one could focus on those verbs which are normally followed by that-clauses and separately on those which are following by noun phrases.
Focusing on those which are prepositional is also an option.
See the diagram above for examples of all of these. - Function:
You may prefer a logical approach to the function of verbs so you consider, for example, a set of verbs appropriate to the learners' level which perform similar functions or form adjacency pairings such as, e.g., agreeing and disagreeing.
Helpfully, the verbs above are classified on this site in that way and you can get the list to select from by clicking here.
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Approach |
You can approach the verbs from any of the three analyses above by considering attitude, function and form separately. A combined approach is often productive providing the number of target verbs is limited and carefully selected.
For example:
- Start with a shortlist of verbs which function to state what an author believes (say, hold, assert, believe, claim, declare, maintain etc.) and introduce them in context to show the colligations (see above for that). At lower levels, some focus on tense, aspect and voice is appropriate at this stage.
- Move on to presenting them on a cline from tentative, through neutral to assertive (see above).
- Then, once the function, form and meaning are clear,
learners can proceed to practising them. A simple way to
do that is to present a text which only uses a simple verb like
say and get learners to replace the verb with something
more appropriate. It could look something like this:
Jones (1964:20) says that ... and says it is important to ... but Smith (1990:85) says that this is not true and he says work by Robinson (1990) says that ...
More recently, Smith now says that what the study said was not fully correct. He now says that what Jones said is important.
could become something like:
Jones (1964:20) asserts that ... and emphasises that it is important to ... but Smith (1990:85) avers that this is not true and he points out that work by Robinson (1990) reveals that ...
More recently, Smith now concedes that what the study showed was not fully correct. He now allows that what Jones noted is important. - Finally, the learners can move on to writing or improving their own texts using the limited range you have introduced.
- The procedure can be duplicated with another target function and set of verbs until the learners are able to deploy a wide range of reporting verbs accurately, with attitudinal awareness and for functions they can clearly identify.
| Related guides | |
| reported or indirect speech | the general guide to the area |
| verbal processes | for a general guide to what verbs do |
| verb and clause types | for a guide to understanding verbs and their structures |
| EAP index | for links to other guides in the area |
Reference:
Campbell, in Jordan, RR, 1997, English for Academic Purposes,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press