Adobe Systems
Referring verbs
Academic writing
Seminar 5

Using referring verbs
Referring verbs are used to summarise another writer’s ideas:
Previn argued that interest rates were too low.
Bakewell (1992) found that most managers tended to use traditional terms . . .
They may also be used to introduce a quotation:
As Scott observed: ‘Comment is free but facts are sacred.’
Most of these verbs are followed by a noun clause beginning with ‘that’.

Using referring verbs
The following mean that the writer is presenting a case:
• argue • claim • consider • hypothesise • suggest • believe • think • state.
Melville (2007) suggested that tax rates should be harmonised.
A second group describe a reaction to a previously stated position:
• accept • admit • agree with • deny • doubt.
Handlesmith doubts Melville’s suggestion that tax rates should be harmonised.
Others include:
• assume • conclude • discover • explain • imply • indicate • maintain • presume • reveal • show.
Patel (2003) assumes that inflation will remain low.

• argue • claim • consider • hypothesise • suggest • believe • think • state
• accept • admit • agree with • deny • doubt
• assume • conclude • discover • explain • imply • indicate • presume • reveal • show.

Further referring verbs
A small group of verbs is followed by the pattern (somebody/thing + for + noun/gerund):
• blame • censure • commend • condemn • criticise.
"Lee (1998) blamed the media for creating uncertainty."

Another group is followed by (somebody/thing + as + noun/gerund):
• assess • characterise • classify • define • describe • evaluate • identify • interpret • portray
• present.
"Terry interprets rising oil prices as a result of the Asian recovery."

• blame • censure • commend • condemn • criticise.
• assess • characterise • classify • define • describe • evaluate • identify • interpret • portray
• present.

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7
Reporting Verbs
̶Hard sciences have a more detached reporting style
The relevant theory was developed by Bruno.
Stein et al. reported that a typical force..
Paiva and Venturinit presented an alternative formulation…
̶
̶Contrasted with soft sciences:
Baumgarter and Bagozzi (1995) strongly recommend the use of…
Law and Whitley (1989) argued, for instance, that…..
̶
̶Plus use of evaluative adverbial comment
He argues, correctly to my mind, that…
Churchland justifiably rejects this notion….
As Stern and Terrell, correctly assert…
̶
̶

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Hedges
̶Reduce the force of statements
̶Reinforce tentativeness of proposition or an appropriate degree of prudence
...it could plausibly be reported that what seems attractive about it are just…
This suggests that a competition exists….which might account for…
In all probability, the sub-routines would require further development…
̶

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Boosters
̶Increase the force of statements
̶Allow writers to express certainty (or strong probability), mark solidarity with a source or
audience, show conviction in argument
The essential role of interference between coherent wave functions is further strengthened by…
This clearly indicates that attractive interactions alone cannot explain…
̶

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10
Dimensions of Praise and Criticism
̶Critique specific issues, praise more global features:
̶
Klein’s work is significant, not only for the detailed careful study she presents, but also for the
myriad issues she raises….
In section IV, however, it is not made clear why the competitive inhibition of….
But this claim turns out to be misleading.
It does not give much of an explanation why neural networks are useful, and does not derive any of
the equations
I found the model quite robust at the simplest level of explaining how the banking sector operated,
but less convincing in explaining why the sector collapsed in the face of….
̶

Using adverbs
Adverbs are used in academic writing in a variety of ways.
(a) to provide more detail, with verbs and adjectives:
Reasonably good data are available for only . . .
Economists traditionally argued for import controls.
(b) individually, often at the beginning of sentences, to introduce new points or link sentences
together:
Currently, the Earth’s atmosphere appears to be warming up.
Alternatively, the use of non-conventional renewable energies . . .
Note: Adverbs used individually need to be employed with care. It is dangerous to overuse them.
Adverbs such as ‘fortunately’ or ‘remarkably’ may be unsuitable

Using adverbs
Adverbs linked to verbs and adjectives usually fall into three groups:
(a) time (when?)
previously published
retrospectively examined
(b) degree (how much?)
declined considerably
contribute substantially
(c) manner (in what way?)
financially complicated
remotely located

Time:   recently increasingly originally presently currently traditionally continuously
Degree:  clearly particularly broadly highly wholly crucially emphatically
Manner: (un)surprisingly factually politically locally alternatively similarly psychologically

(a) particularly
(b) Originally
(c) Alternatively
(d) Recently
(e) locally
(f) Clearly/Crucially