Hi all! I’m struggling to see a difference between
という事だ
and
と言われている
Both seem to mean “it is said that”, but they are not mentioning one another as synonyms in bunpro.
イルカは動物の中で頭が一番いいということだ。
イルカは動物の中で頭が一番いいと言われている。 ← Does this not work?
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Hi there!
ということだ and と言われている both have the same basic meaning, but the nuance they have is a little different. ということだ means ‘I heard that…’, but it could also have the nuance of ‘in that case…it means that…’ So, the sentence イルカは動物の中で頭が一番いいということだ could mean ‘I heard that dolphins are the smartest of all animals,’ and depending on what comes before this sentence, it could have the nuance of, ‘In other words, this means that dolphins are the smartest of all animals.’
と言われている has the meaning of ‘I heard that…’, but the nuance with that phrase is closer to ‘people say that…’ The nuance of イルカは動物の中で頭が一番いいと言われている, is closer to ‘Many people say that dolphins are the smartest of all animals.’
They both work, but depending on the context, it could sound a little strange.
I hope this helps!
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