The phrase "argues pretty" is not correct in standard written English.
It may be intended to convey that someone argues in a convincing or effective manner, but it lacks clarity and proper structure.
Example: "She argues pretty convincingly during debates, making her points hard to refute."
Alternatives: "argues effectively" or "argues persuasively."
Indeed, David Beckworth argues pretty compellingly that since 2008, the Fed has essentially been targeting a corridor for core PCE inflation of between 1% and 2%.Now, the Fed doesn't target core inflation; it targets headline inflation.
The draft I was shown argues, pretty convincingly, that even a partial ban on bottom-trawled fishing inshore would create several hundred jobs along the 100km of the Clyde's passage to the sea.
And because he also argues, pretty convincingly, that the Arab Spring has made an already fragile region even less cohesive, the strategic competition there among large and medium powers will intensify.
The night before Ms. Adovasio went missing, Mr. Cordero said the couple were "arguing pretty loud".
A couple more things to ponder coming out of the weekend: BoingBoing points out that the state of Washington - which is facing a budget deficit of almost $3bn - could give Microsoft a $100m tax break and an amnesty on $1bn in unpaid taxes; and Robert Scoble manages to argue pretty successfully why those who whine about the TED conference being too exclusive should stop moaning.
Others (namely @IanBetteridge ) argue, pretty convincingly, that this will be a good thing for Twitter and clean up all those messy conversations between people you don't know.
And I think it can be argued pretty clearly.
We argued pretty intensely in the back seat as the rest of the family stayed silent upfront.
Since we never had clear evidence of a benefit, even a hint of potential harm from multis was enough to argue pretty powerfully against their routine use.
If this news weren't bad enough, the report also says that this bad music is louder -- "increasing by about one decibel every eight years" -- which, the researchers argue, pretty much destroys those parts of a song that would otherwise be dynamic.
There was a faction that really, really wanted somebody who was a great basketball player and then I believe myself and Mike De Luca argued pretty strenuously for somebody who was a great actor, who could get across the emotionality of the love story because we thought that's where the heart of the movie resided.
