Claiming To Be and Stating That

Claiming To Be and Stating That Claiming To Be and Stating That Claiming To Be and Stating That By Maeve Maddox Recently I’ve noticed the phrase â€Å"stating to be† in contexts that call for either â€Å"claiming to be† or â€Å"stating that.† For example: This Buffalo, NY church has a plaque  stating to be  a nuclear weapon free zone.   Should you be approached by any persons stating to be appointed agency/representative of Qatar Airways, they should be considered as fraudulent. Be suspicious of emails stating to be from a financial institution, government agency, or anyone requesting account information, account verification, or banking access credentials.   The meaning of to state in these contexts is â€Å"to declare in words; to represent a matter.† Used with this meaning, the participle stating usually introduces a noun clause, not an infinitive, as in this example. The  scam  is usually introduced by a letter  stating that  the writer has access to huge  sums of government money ranging from $25 million to $80 million. The example about the plaque can be rewritten this way: This Buffalo, NY church has a plaque  stating that the church is a nuclear- weapon-free zone.   The verb claim, on the other hand, is often followed by an infinitive, as in these examples: The punishment for an individual falsely claiming to be a broker or salesperson is a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment up to six months, or both. A street firm employee  claiming to know  about the trades volunteered information to the SEC New. York office.  Ã‚   Before the pilot program the District paid ditchriders overtime, although claiming to believe that  their work qualified for the irrigation exemption. The verb claim is used with different meanings, but in the context of an assertion about credentials, knowledge, or belief, it conveys a connotation of dubiousness. The other two examples given at the beginning of this post can be improved by changing stating to claiming: Should you be approached by any persons claiming to be appointed agency/representative of Qatar Airways, they should be considered as fraudulent. Be suspicious of emails claiming to be from a financial institution, government agency, or anyone requesting account information, account verification, or banking access credentials.   At present, the odd construction â€Å"stating to be† brings up only 332,000 search results compared to 14,200,000 for â€Å"claiming to be† and 40,200,000 for â€Å"stating that.† However, a search limited to specific years indicates that â€Å"stating to be† has been rising in frequency on the Web since 1990. Bottom line: Generally speaking, claim and state are synonyms, but synonyms are not always interchangeable. Connotation matters, as does syntax. In the context of fraud, the phrase â€Å"claiming to be† is the better choice. Related post When a Synonym Isn’t Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Direct and Indirect ObjectsWhat is Dative Case?The Difference Between "Un-" and "Dis-"

Argumentative Writing with Stylistic Devices

Argumentative Writing with Stylistic Devices Argumentative Writing with Stylistic Devices The fact that argumentative papers are actually the most difficult papers to write is very common. However, there are many things involved in writing such. On many occasions when you are putting up an argument, people are not buying what you are writing or saying just because it is the truth. Readers usually tend to look at the beauty of what you are putting into words and how sophisticated and stylish it is. This is why you have to do everything possible to garnish your argumentative paper with numerous stylistic devices. There are many of them, but we will treat only 7 of the most popular ones. Rhetorical question This is actually one of the best stylistic devices you can attract attention to your argument with. It is the concept of asking questions for the simple sake of making an effect, and not because you need an answer. It is used to emphasize a thing that is already known, and it does the job of drawing attention or making the audience reflect over the mentioned issue. For example, who will defend the poor if the government does not involve itself in it?. Metaphor This is another great stylistic device. Here, you try to identify a word or phrase as a similar thing to something it does not have any relationship with. It is still a rhetorical tool used to draw attention to a particular situation. It simply highlights the similarities between the two, which may not be existent after all. An example of a metaphor is orange is the new black. Parallelism This is another great device you must form the habit of using here. You try to draw some parallel between parts of the same sentence. It involves using similar structure/construction in several clauses. This is mainly used to give a good pattern to the passage. An example is what you do in the dark will be revealed, what you do in the open will be revealed. Irony Irony is a good device that entails using an expression to give an opposite meaning. Here, what you say is exactly the opposite of what you mean. This is used to show some emphasis and actually bring some level of humor to your argumentative essay. For example, I hate life because it is very sweet. Repetition Another very important device that is used in the course of argumentative essays. Here, you simply repeat words within the same poetic line or within the same sentence in no particular order. This has a way of making the sentence or even phrases very emphatic and also beautiful to read. Many people do not see this as a stylistic device or figure of speech, but that is actually what it is. For instance what is worth doing is worth doing well. Personification This is described as the concept of attributing the characteristics of human beings to animals and inanimate objects. You make it look as if they have human feelings and behavior. This will always make your narrative more lively and interesting. And that is what your argumentative essay needs to make it less official-like and more reader-friendly. An example is â€Å"The proofs hang over this statement to crash it when the time comes. Hyperbole This is the stylistic device for argumentative writing that is also known as deliberate exaggeration. It is seldom used, and it simply means the use of highly exaggerated terms to draw emphasis and attention to your message. An example is The room was seemingly capable of holding millions of people. So, all in all if you are good at argumentative paper writing without these stylistic devices, it’s certainly more than great. But, in case you are eager to emphasize the message and strengthen your persuasion, these are the tools you must use. Make your academic writing more efficient with the means of stylistics.