The table below lists some of the most common reporting verbs, sorted by frequency in the BNC Baby, a 1 million word sub-corpus of the BNC (British National Corpus). The frequencies given are total counts for the verbs and corresponding forms.

The list can also be sorted by frequency in the academic section of the BAWE (British Academic Written English), a 6.5 million word corpus of written academic English.

NOTE: Verbs in italics also have nouns with the same form, and frequency data will be inaccurate (too high) since it also includes those forms.

Reporting verb	BAWE freq	BNC freq	Usage	Strength	General meaning
see	9515	1480		weak	see
find	7578	1233	that	neutral	conclude
show	9860	1205	that/how	strong	show
study	5566	1105	sth	neutral	examine
question	3664	796	sth	weak	disagree
consider	4723	714	sth	neutral	think
suggest	4902	695	that	weak	suggest
describe	2659	669	sth	neutral	state
view	3915	663	sth as sth	weak	see
present	4514	633	sth	neutral	state
state	9264	590	that	neutral	state
hold	2260	509	that	neutral	believe
reason	3658	496	that	strong	think
develop	4034	488		weak	add
argue	3555	480	that	strong	believe
support	3810	476	sth	strong	agree
report	2996	462	that	neutral	state
assume	1601	402	that	weak	believe
note	2351	402	that	weak	state
compare	2937	383	sth to sth	neutral	examine
claim	2391	379	that	strong	believe
define	2475	354	sth as sth	neutral	explain
discuss	2044	349	sth	neutral	discuss
determine	2752	339		strong	show
explain	2629	312	that	neutral	explain
identify	2643	303	sth	neutral	explain
establish	2104	295	that	neutral	show
add	2131	290	that	neutral	state
examine	1568	272	sth	neutral	examine
accept	1446	269	that	neutral	agree
express	1280	264	sth	neutral	state
feel	3065	248	that	neutral	believe
stress	1514	247	that	strong	emphasise
recognise	1479	245	that	neutral	agree
believe	2837	225	that	strong	believe
reflect	1491	219	that	neutral	think
contrast	1208	211	sth with sth	neutral	examine
illustrate	1249	198	sth	neutral	explain
demonstrate	1473	187	that/how	neutral	show
prove	1681	187	that	strong	show
analyse	1821	178	sth	neutral	examine
imply	1046	173	that	weak	suggest
calculate	1812	166	that	weak	show
observe	1517	166	that	neutral	see
suppose	370	161	that	weak	guess
propose	1195	161	that	neutral	suggest
doubt	557	152	sth	neutral	disagree
point out	792	147	that	neutral	state
mention	1384	142	that	neutral	state
assess	895	139	sth	neutral	examine
emphasise	929	139	that	strong	emphasise
agree	929	137	that	strong	agree
maintain	1827	136	that	strong	believe
comment	612	123	that	weak	state
object to	1736	120	sth	strong	disagree
admit	396	119	that	weak	agree
dispute	287	116	sth	strong	disagree
evaluate	743	113	sth	neutral	examine
conclude	1142	102	that	strong	conclude
reveal	938	100	that	strong	show
challenge	1224	100	sb to do sth	strong	disagree
notice	660	99	that	weak	see
oppose	687	96	sth	strong	disagree
contribute	1084	96	to sth	strong	add
outline	519	96	sth	neutral	state
investigate	940	90	sth	neutral	examine
recommend	448	84	that	strong	suggest
reject	690	80	sth	strong	disagree
discover	735	80	that	neutral	conclude
confirm	636	80	that	neutral	agree
deny	457	80	that	strong	disagree
remark	229	64	that	weak	state
acknowledge	535	58	that	neutral	agree
inform	560	57	that	neutral	state
criticise	425	56	sb for sth	strong	accuse
highlight	1278	53	sth	strong	emphasise
assert	464	50	that	strong	state
declare	261	47	that	neutral	state
articulate	101	44	that	neutral	explain
convince	359	44		strong	persuade
advocate	378	42	that	strong	suggest
persuade	155	40	that	strong	persuade
put forward	174	37	sth	weak	suggest
suspect	315	37	that	weak	guess
allege	70	36	that	strong	accuse
dismiss	240	35	sth	strong	disagree
theorise	75	35	that	neutral	suggest
infer	222	34	that	neutral	conclude
blame	275	31	sb for sth	strong	accuse
warn	224	31	sb of sth/that	strong	suggest
insist	126	29	that	strong	believe
clarify	194	28	that	neutral	explain
accuse	197	26	sb of sth	strong	accuse
advise	248	24	that	strong	suggest
contend	137	22	that	strong	think
remind	179	20	that	neutral	state
counter	360	20		strong	disagree
endorse	69	19	sth	strong	agree
concede	66	18
discount	242	16	sth	strong	disagree
echo	202	15	sth	neutral	agree
urge	83	15	that	strong	suggest
disagree	167	14	with sb	strong	disagree
postulate	69	12	that	neutral	suggest
intimate	79	12	that	weak	suggest
disapprove	27	11	of sth	strong	disagree
discern	48	11	that	neutral	conclude
speculate	52	8	that	weak	guess
contradict	196	8	sth	strong	disagree
inquire	17	8		weak	examine
concur	59	7	with sb	strong	agree
hypothesise	76	6	that	neutral	suggest
posit	71	6	that	neutral	suggest
refute	118	5	sth	strong	disagree
stipulate	42	5	that	strong	require
affirm	95	5	that	strong	suggest
disprove	73	4	sth	strong	disagree
subscribe to	36	4	sth	neutral	believe
profess	26	4	that	neutral	believe
scrutinise	54	3	sth	strong	examine
underscore	13	3	sth	strong	emphasise
take into consideration	153	2		weak	include
cast doubt on	16	2	sth	strong	disagree
query	10	2	sth	weak	disagree

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References

Bailey, S. (2000). Academic Writing. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer

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