Essay verbs

Academic vocabulary 

Unfortunately, both your textbooks and you seem to be rather too much in love with the verb “to state” as being the best means of referring to a comment or passage by another writer. But we have plenty of more incisive alternatives. When a writer presents an argument, and you reference it, you might say that the author (whom I here designate as male):  

Accepts  ---- Here you may be in disagreement with the writer, and about to make a point that challenges his belief, or you are observing that the author is agreeing to some fact with which he is not entirely happy, but knows he cannot change. 

Advances the idea that  ---- The writer has proposed something; put an idea on the table. 

Advocates  ---- The writer, like a lawyer or campaigner, favors a particular approach. 

Affirms  ---- The implication is you share the belief. 

Alleges  ---- Use if you are very doubtful or skeptical of his claims. 

Allows  ---- Here the writer is conceding a point, admitting an exception, permitting something that may run counter to his argument.

Announces  ---- The writer has made a statement that is in some way introductory to a point – just as one might announce an event before it takes place.

Argues  ----  The writer has constructed a thesis, made a point, presented a reasoned argument and is trying to persuade us. 

Asserts  ---- The writer states his position forcefully – your use of this word implies a certain distancing of your own view from his. 

Attests (to the view that, to the truth of the fact)  ---- The writer is speaking from personal experience, and is somehow a witness to the point he is making. 

Avows   ---- Use if the writer said whatever he said in a rather solemn spirit of conviction and belief. 

Claims  ---- The writer is saying this, but, as with allege (q.v.), you are standing back and not necessarily accepting his view. 

Concedes  ---- Like allows (q.v.), but with an even stronger sense that a contradiction has been detected and acknowledged. 

Confirms  ---- You are putting yourself on the same side as the writer and suggesting that what he says was essentially a restatement of something that is already true.

  

Contends  ---- Fancy and more forceful word for argues (q.v.), with a hint of a continuing debate in which one position is contrasted with another.  

Conveys the idea, message, notion that...  ---- Best used if the writer has succeeded in presenting an idea through descriptive or allusive language. 

Declares   ---- Use if he is making a statement with “political” or rhetorical intent. 

Demonstrates  ---- Like shows (q.v.), but the notion that something has been scientifically or logically proved is even stronger. 

Divulges/reveals  ---- Use when what the writer has said is news to you, or, at any rate, is intended by the writer to represent a discovery for whoever is reading. 

Endorses the view/idea that  ---- The writer is willing to sign off on or back an idea (which you are now about to state). 

Explains  ---- Simple enough; best to restrict your use of it to when you are essentially in agreement with his point. 

Highlights  ---- A stronger version of points out (q.v.): the writer takes one element of his argument and gives it precedence. 

Indicates  ---- Interesting word: can mean either to point out (q.v.), in which case the writer may have an instance or example in mind and has put his finger on it; or to suggest (q.v.), in which case the writer is indirectly alluding to or pointing a finger in the general direction of a concept. 

Insists  ---- He is reiterating a point already made, or is sticking to a position already implicitly or explicitly articulated. 

Maintains  ---- Like argues (q.v.),but with the implication that this is a belief personally held by the writer,to which he is more attached than if he were merely arguing it. 

Mentions  ---- Use this when you isolate one point or example from several that the writer has provided.

Notes  ---- Not as neutral as it sounds. If you say a writer notes something, then you and he are accepting that that which was noted is true and merely needed pointing out. 

Points out  ---- Like notes (q.v.), in that you and he both accept the fact at face-value. It also conveys the idea of selecting one element as being of particular importance. 

Proclaims  ---- A strong word, to be used sparingly. It refers to a public announcement of a belief.A Republic is proclaimed, as is the Second Coming of Christ. 

Professes  ---- The only thing you really profess is a belief ----  not an idea. 

Promulgates an idea, theory  ---- The writer is setting out some sort of belief and hoping that it will be widely taken up. 

Proposes  ---- Like advances (q.v.),except the writer has given a more definitive or formal structure to the idea being put forward.

Propounds  ---- Like promulgate (q.v.),except the writer is perhaps less anxious for the idea to be taken up as a popular cause. 

Puts forward the idea that   ---- Like advance and propose (q.v.). 

Recites (the reasons, causes, facts, arguments)  ---- Hard to use correctly – usually this will refer to a list, whether explicitly or implicitly referred to Often one recites words or beliefs learned by heart, and the verb carries the idea of something a little dull or self-evident that is being repeated. 

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Reports  ---- Limit this to where the writer is“bringing back”information from somewhere, like a journalist on the front line, or a financial analyst who has examined the books and is now presenting his findings. 

Reveals  ---- Only use this if there is some sort of ta-da! unveiling of a point in what the writer has said.  

Says   ---- A pretty neutral word, nothing at all wrong with it, and usually to be preferred to states.

Sets forth the notion, idea, arguments  ---- Arranges the arguments in an orderly manner, much as a stall-owner might set out his wares for display. 

Shows  ---- The statement is backed by some sort of evidence or proof of its veracity.

States  ---- Give this dull word a rest. 

Stresses  ---- Please use this only to isolate one aspect of what the writer has said. 

Suggests  ----  Either (i)  the author was tentative in saying it, or, (ii) you are drawing a conclusion that the author may not have explicitly stated. If used with should (iii) it is often used to indicate that the writer has offered advice - The author suggests that sugar should be treated as if it were a toxic drug.

Underlines/underscores  ---- Like stresses (q.v.). Italian students, please do not use this as if it were synonymous with “says” or “states”. 

Voices the idea that  ---- The writer is acting as spokesman for a pre-existing idea held by others. Similar to advocates. 

Please be aware that the verbs below cannot stand on their own before a noun clause; they require a direct or oblique object. 

Inform – The essay informs us about how the cargo cult culture of the Easter Islands developed.... 

Tell – By showing how a young man can be corrupted by influence writer tells us that societal norms... 

Apprise – In his examination of the individual, Larry Siedentop apprises us of several interesting facts about early Christianity... 

Advise – This is often used without an object, but it is better with one. He advises people to avoid... NOT He advises to avoid....