Part 2: Verbs
Saying/Thinking Verbs
AKA
reporting verbs
mental processes
verbal processes
Examples
Not I, said the Little Red Hen.
The United States Navy announced that a naval fleet oiler would be christened the USNS Harvey Milk.
Hamlet wonders whether he should kill Claudius.
Definition
A major category of verbs describes what people, groups, and sources say, think, or believe. While there are differences among these functions, collectively these verbs are known as reporting verbs. They include some very high frequency vocabulary including say, think, know, and believe.
Discovery
Form
There are three grammatical questions we can ask about reporting verbs:
- What subjects, or Sayers, do they allow? That is, who or what can say, think, argue, believe, etc.? In English, permissible Sayers can include groups (the school, the government, the state, the audience, etc.) and sources (the paper argues, the book says, the film shows). However, thinking verbs cannot easily be used with things rather than people (?the article believes that, ?Midsummer Night’s Dream thinks that …).
- Do they allow or require a Recipient (an indirect object)? For example, these verbs require a Recipient: persuade someone that …, tell someone to …., persuade someone that … . Others have an optional Recipient: ask (someone) whether …, say (to someone) that …
- What comes after the verb? That is, what kind of complement do they take? For example:
|
|
ø (intrans.) |
Noun Phrase |
Prepositional Phrase |
that clause |
-ing clause (gerund) |
|
say |
X |
a sentence |
X |
that grammar is hard |
X |
|
suggest |
X |
a solution |
X |
that we end class early |
ending class early |
|
present |
✔ |
my project |
to my boss |
X |
X |
|
agree |
✔ |
X |
with you |
that writing is important |
X |
Careful!
Just because inanimate objects can be the Sayer of a reporting verb doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Readers and writers should be alert for texts that Argue or Explain using this kind of anthropomorphism: that is, giving non-human Sayers human capacities. This has become especially common in careless reporting about “AI” (artificial intelligence) products, which cannot actually think, reason, write, argue, or claim, but only generate or produce synthetic texts.
A small number of reporting verbs are not usually followed by a that clause, including describe, define, support, oppose, present.
Function
Reporting verbs most often project the words, thoughts, and ideas of other people and sources. Language users may do this for various reasons: to introduce other voices into their texts; to attribute words and ideas to sources; to paraphrase; or to share responsibility for a claim with someone else. For example, in a text that Narrates, the speaker might use dialogue to move the plot forwards and inner thoughts to develop characters. In a text that Argues, sources are often quoted and paraphrased to support arguments or set up counter-claims.
An important consideration when choosing a reporting device is the extent to which the writer wants to be aligned with the projected idea. As you read the following sentences, consider where the writer is aligned with or distanced from the idea about Jackie Robinson’s first baseball game:
Lipsyte and Levine wrote that Jackie Robinson’s first game was “the most eagerly anticipated debut” in baseball.
Lipsyte and Levine suggested that Jackie Robinson’s first game was “the most eagerly anticipated debut” in baseball.
Lipsyte and Levine claimed that Jackie Robinson’s first game was “the most eagerly anticipated debut” in baseball.
Jackie Robinson’s first game was “the most eagerly anticipated debut” in baseball (Lipsyte & Levine, 1995).
Sentence 1 is fairly neutral, although the writer emphasizes that the idea was written by Lipsyte and Levine. In Sentence 2, the reporting verb makes the idea sound less certain. In Sentence 3, the writer is distanced from the claim and perhaps does not agree or thinks it is unproven. Sentence 4 shows the strongest alignment, with the only indication of another voice the quotation marks and parenthetical citation.
What next?
Noun clauses
