state,claim, assert

Question

Hello,Could you please tell me where I go wrong? I think that "assert" is the strongest verb here. "He asserted his innocence." He was 100% sure he was innocent. He stood by it.  To claim something is less strong, and when people claim something, they might do it in the absence of concrete evidence. He claimed he was innocent. He might not be.  To me state = expressing something in a formal way, but I am not sure if it is as strong as claim. I was told that none of this was true. Could you please correct me?Thank you

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Gene93I was told that none of this was true.

I agree. I see no substantial difference among the three verbs. Are you just surmising these differences yourself?

Gene93 · Answer

Yes, sir. Is that too bad? I hope not. My confidence was badly dented today <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/6.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/6.gif' alt='Emotion: sad'/>.

Deadrat · Answer

Too bad?  It's not bad at all.  You know the definitions of the words, and you realize that English often has numerous ways to say the same thing, often with subtle differences, in this case not.  Keep asking; keep practicing.  You have no reason to lose confidence because of a very minor error.

Gene93 · Answer

Failing to utilize my knowledge is a huge minus. No one likes that. I will not give up, I am too stubborn, but I have never wanted to make things up.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Gene93I have never wanted to make things up.

Even native speakers have mistaken views about the meanings/implications/pronunciations of some words and expressions. This is not 'making things up'. I was 59, and had been teaching for over 37 years before I learnt that I had been mispronouncing 'ancient' all my life. Embarrassingly, I was recording the listening passages for the national examinations in a Baltic country. The producers kept asking me to re-record one section, until the non-native-speaking producer told me how I should pronounce the word. I would have been quite indignant had two native-speaking colleagues present not confirmed that I was wrong, and reference to a couple of sound dictionaries confirmed their views.

It's embarrassing, but it's not the end of the world.

CalifJim · Answer

Gene93I think that "assert" is the strongest verb here.

Judging by the meaning of the adjectival form 'assertive', I tend to agree. To me asserting is stating assertively.

Gene93To claim something is less strong

I'm not so sure about this one. For me, a claim is a statement offered for discussion and possible denial. It doesn't sound like it fits so neatly into a strong vs. weak scale. Sometimes when I say that someone claimed that X was true, I'm saying that I myself don't quite accept that X is true. In that way I agree with your "maybe not" interpretation of the word.

Gene93To me state = expressing something in a formal way

Maybe just a higher register form of 'say'.

Gene93I was told that none of this was true.

It depends how finely you want to dice your mushrooms. Some people are lumpers; some are splitters.

Add 'declare' and 'affirm' and half a dozen other near synonyms, and you can give yourself a lot of headaches.

CJ

Gene93 · Answer

I don't think there's anything wrong with pronouncing "ancient" differently <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>. I think that natives make mistakes because they simply don't care. The same applies to some learners, but not most of them. Some of the people I know attend universities in English speaking countries, they don't care about it as much as I do and everything seems to be much easier for them. I just want to be good enough, so I can call myself "fluent".

CalifJim · Answer

Gene93I don't think there's anything wrong with pronouncing "ancient" differently

Even it gets as far afield as [?'t?i:? n?nt]?

Gene93I think that natives make mistakes because they simply don't care.

Naa. They just hear it wrong from others and imitate. Or they have never heard it and they make a bad guess.

I once met a man who was quite a 'loner' with few social contacts, but who was an avid reader. He would come up with all sorts of pronunciations. My favorite was [?n?'v?t?b?l] for 'inevitable'.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

My son, now a teacher, of EFL pronounced albeit as /ælbi(j)?t/ for many years/ . I'm not surprised - his nonagenarian grandamother resolutely claims that she has been /'m?zld/ (misled) by politicians.

CalifJim · Answer

And then there's that friend of mine, not particularly science-literate, who once mentioned [?n'frard] (infrared) light, wondering aloud what sort of process it might be to "infrar" light.

CJ

state,claim, assert

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions