Quoting People 
Quoting People

Ways of quoting what someone has said

say verb [transitive] used when quoting what someone said in a speech, or wrote in a
book, article etc:
 John F. Kennedy once famously said "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask 
what you can do for your country."
 In their report, they say that they see no reason to change the existing system.

STUDY NOTE: Grammar 
Say  is used a lot in  English.  Below are other words and expressions which  mean the
same thing, and when writing essays it is a good idea to use some of these instead of
repeating say every time. 

write verb [transitive] used when quoting what someone wrote in a book, article etc:

 Du Bois  wrote that  the United States  was  "a  land of magnificent possibilities  - the
home of noble souls and generous people."

point out	phrasal verb  to mention something in a book, article etc,  which seems 
particularly important and relevant:
 Dr  Graham	points  out	that  "All normal children show some degree of  antisocial
behaviour".
 As Rachel Carson  points out in her book "Silent Spring", chemicals used in farming
are having a devastating effect on our countryside.

STUDY NOTE: Grammar 
You use As ... points out/notes/states etc to show that you agree with what the writer
has said.

note / remark verb  [transitive]  to say that you have noticed  that something  is true.
Note and remark are formal words:
 Lyons (1977) notes that not all languages have tenses. 
	As  Brownmiller	has remarked, women, on the whole, have  not achieved economic
equality with men in our society.

observe verb [transitive] to say that you have noticed that something is true. Observe
is used when reporting someone's scientific studies, or when saying that someone points 
out a truth about life or the world: 

 Winnicott	observed that  mothers spend much  of  the first few months imitating their
infants.
 As Joseph Heller once observed, success and failure can be equally difficult to deal 
with.

state verb [transitive] used when saying what people, reports, laws and rules say. State 
sounds very definite and full of authority:
 Parkinson's Law states that "work expands to fill the time available".
 As Skinner (1948) states, verbal behaviour develops according to the same principles
as any other behaviour.

argue verb [transitive] used when you want to say that someone puts forward a set of
ideas:
 Rousseau argued that all men were born equal. 
	As  Edward Said  argues: European  culture gained in strength and identity by setting 
itself off against the Orient (Said 1995).

conclude verb  [transitive]  used  when you are introducing the  end of what  someone
has written, especially when it is a summary of the main point of what they wrote:
 Wagner concludes that  managers should constantly try to lower costs and achieve 
high product quality.

claim verb [transitive] you use claim when you are saying what someone has said, and
you do not believe that what they said was true or you think there is no proof for what
they said: 
 Some people have claimed that Kennedy was killed by the CIA. 
 Doctors claimed to have found a cure for the disease. 

according to...	preposition  used when saying  what  people,  organizations,  and 
reports have said:
 According to a recent survey by Time magazine, 49 percent of Americans said they 
thought the President was doing a good job.
 Young children need at least ten hours of sleep a day, according to Dr. Shaefer.

in the words of  ...  used when saying  exactly what someone has said,  especially
when this seems to sum up a situation very well:
 In the words of one professor, the object of teaching English literature is not to pass 
on knowledge, but to train the imagination. 
