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

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