Reporting Verbs in Academic Writing

A list of Reporting Verbs

Here is a list of 200 verbs used to introduce ideas or quotations in academic writing. (These verbs are called "reporting verbs or "verbs of attribution.")

Reporting verbs are usually written in the present tense, most commonly in the third person singular (i.e., the "he, she, it" version), which is how they are listed. For example:
  • Albert Einstein agrees that...
    • (The reporting verb "to agree" is in the present tense, third person singular.)
  • Albert Einstein and Arthur Patschke agree that...
    • (The reporting verb "to agree" is in the present tense. This time, it is in the third person plural because the subject is two people, i.e., plural.)
The list is sortable, editable, and printable. It can be displayed as normal text or in columns (up to 4). (You can even turn the list into American English or British English.)

Just for fun, we've added game of hangman, which selects a verb from this list as the secret word.

Sortable, Editable, and Printable List

Sort
Edit
Language
Columns
 
accentuates, accepts, accounts for, accuses, acknowledges, addresses, adds, admits, advises, advocates, affirms, agrees, alerts, alleges, allows, analyzes/analyses, announces, answers, apologizes/apologises, applauds, appraises, argues, articulates, asks, asserts, assesses, assumes, assures, attacks, aver, believes, blames, boasts, categorizes/categorises, challenges, charges, cites, claims, clarifies, comments, compares, complains, concedes, concludes, concurs, concurs with, confesses, confirms, confuses, congratulates, considers, contends, contents, continues, contradicts, contrasts, convinces, counters, criticizes/criticises, critiques, deals, deals with, debates, decides, declares, defines, denies, describes, disagrees, discards, disclaims, discounts, discourse, discovers, discusses, dismisses, disputes, disregards, doubts, echoes, emphasizes/emphasises, encourages, endorses, estimates, evaluates, examines, exclaims, exhorts, explains, expresses, extols, feels, finds, forbids, forgets, grants, guarantees, guesses, highlights, holds, hopes, hypothesizes/hypothesises, identifies, ignores, illustrates, imagines, implies, indicates, infers, informs, insinuates, insists, instructs, interprets, intimates, introduces, investigates, justifies, knows, lists, maintains, mentions, mumbles, negates, notes, objects, objects to, observes, offers, opposes, outlines, persuades, points out, posits, postulates, praises, presents, professes, promises, pronounces, proposes, propounds, proves, questions, realizes/realises, reasons, recites, recognizes/recognises, recommends, refutes, rejects, remarks, reminds, replies, reports, requests, responds, restates, reveals, says, scrutinizes/scrutinises, sees, sets forth, shows, specifies, speculates, states, stresses, studies, subscribes to, suggests, supports, supposes, tells, theorizes/theorises, thinks, threatens, underscores, understands, upholds, urges, uses, utilizes/utilises, utters, verifies, warns, whines, with, wonders, writes

Infographic for Reporting Verbs

This infographic shows the reporting verbs by category:
list of pronouns
Reporting verbs are also known as "verbs of attribution." Read more about verbs of attribution.

Learn with Hangman!

Hangman is a classic word game. In this version, the hidden word is always a pronoun from this list. (Choose your first letter to start.)

Help Us Improve Grammar Monster

  • Do you disagree with something on this page?
  • Did you spot a typo?

Find Us Quicker!

  • When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.

See Also

Parts of Speech Lists