Citation Verb Alternatives

Bored of “said”?

Choose based on your field (Brexina, 2012)

• Arts Writers
  • Most common: pointed out, noted, argued, suggested, stated, observed, explained
  • Also used: claimed, said, remarked, maintained, showed, proposed, stressed, mentioned
• Science Writers
  • use fewer verbs more often:
  • Most common: pointed out, showed
  • Also used: argued, emphasized, observed, discussed

Choose based on confidence

• “The author is sure, and I believe them”:
  • said, mentioned, observed
  • concluded, wrote
  • reported, emphasized, pointed
  • out, stressed, noted
  • illustrated, established
  • described, showed, confirmed
  • stated, indicated
  • demonstrated, found
• “The author is unsure, or I’m not sure about the author”:
  • assumed, believed, suggested, maintained, claimed
  • argued, reasoned, speculated, implied, posited
  • proposed, hypothesized, postulated, contended
  • indicated, estimated, asserted

These verbs have more specific meaning:

* Agree: agreed, confirmed
* Disagree: disagreed, rejected, replied, contradicted, responded, questioned, challenged, answered
* Questions: asked, wondered, questioned whether
* Suggestions: suggested, advised, proposed, recommended
* Predictions: predicted, speculated, warned that X will Y
* Admit Problems: admitted, acknowledged * These verbs say what the author did
* highlighted the fact that
* made the case that  
* presented evidence that 

Common mistakes

• Careful of “that”
  • You can use “said that” or “argued that” or “claimed that” or “found that”
    • “that” means more or less “って” as in “って言った”
    • it’s for quoting ideas and facts
  • However, some verbs can break easily
    • they prefer an object that isn’t a fact or quote
    • avoid “described that” and try “described an experiment”
    • avoid “outlined that” and try “outlined a plan”
    • avoid “discussed that” and try “discussed the idea”
    • avoid “rejected that” and try “rejected the idea”
  • Once you’ve made the verb happy, you can then use “that” to give detail
    • “described an experiment (that)”
    • “outlined a plan (that)”
    • “discussed the idea (that)”
    • “rejected the idea (that)”
  • Don’t use “suggested that” if it’s not a suggestion.
  • Don’t use “found that” if it’s not a finding (a research result)
  • If it doubt, use “said”
• Careful of verb tense choice
  • Is it true, relevant, and recent? Maybe use present (says) or perfect (has said). Maybe!
  • Otherwise (and if in doubt) use past (“said”)
• Never use
  • Opinion verbs: guessed, thought
  • Phrasal verbs: came up with, worked out, found out
  • Slang verbs: reckoned, figured