As the argument goes

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Johnyxxx

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Hello,

Can anybody tell me if "as the argument goes" and "as the case stands" mean one and the same thing?

Thanks a lot.
 

probus

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Neither of those is an idiom or a stock phrase.
Therefore we would interpret them just according to the meanings of their words, and they are not the same.

"As the case stands" may well refer to a specific legal matter. If not, it is probably a variant of the oft-used phrase "As matters stand". Either way, it introduces a remark about a mix of facts, circumstances, and possibly arguments. In contrast, the other one is just about a single line of argument or reasoning.
 
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emsr2d2

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Now that you know they are not the same, why don't you try to construct a couple of complete sentences using them and we can see if you are using them correctly?
 

Johnyxxx

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Thanks for helping me.

I do not want to use either of them. In reading a short article called "A quantum experiment shows thete is no such thing as objective reality" I came across "as the argument goes" and not being certain what exactly it meant I tried to find its meaning. In doing so I found "as the case stands" which I thought could be an analogy to what I was looking for.

"Since then, physicists have used the “Wigner’s Friend” thought experiment to explore the nature of measurement and to argue over whether objective facts can exist. That’s important because scientists carry out experiments to establish objective facts. But if they experience different realities, the argument goes, how can they agree on what these facts might be?"

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...ts-theres-no-such-thing-as-objective-reality/
 

emsr2d2

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Can you see how useful all that information would have been in post 1 instead of post 4?
 

Tdol

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The text doesn't use as. In the context, I think the writer is putting forward the argument without actually agreeing with it.
 
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