Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Boosting

146e

Boosting in academic texts, to make a claim more assertively, is often carried out

by the use of a range of adverbial and prepositional constructions (plus some

other types of expression). 

be believed to

be claimed to

be considered to 

be found to 

be said to

be seen to

be shown to

be thought to

it is (widely) accepted

it is generally agreed 

it is believed 

it is/has been claimed 

it is/has been said 

it is/has been

suggested

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Grammar and academic English | 283

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Common boosting expressions include adverbs such as:

This is 

clearly a very restrictive hypothesis, which requires verification, and

Lightfoot suggests that language change represents a useful testing ground.

While most people were 

indisputably poor, the economy had a considerable

surplus above basic subsistence needs, although much of that surplus was

concentrated in the hands of those in the top 10 per cent or so of the income

distribution.

Yet utilities and transport 

unquestionably provide a service rather than a

commodity.

Other expressions used in boosting include:

It was clear that the Danes would remain neutral, although they offered to

approach Catherine II in order to sound her out on a possible settlement.

In the early nineteenth century this was 

without doubt true of much of the

Nord region and the Normandy textile area.