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Lets suppose someone is exaggerating the magnitude of a problem. For example: they face an accident on the way home and start to fabricating some stories about the event that never has happened. The audience possibly would perceive these are all made up by the speaker to making a more scenic view of the occurrence. They may say:

  • You are making this out to be a bigger deal than it really is.

Once, I read the sentence above somewhere and right away took it down on a paper. [The source is unknown now.]

How shall I say the above sentence in a simpler way and using simpler structure in English?

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    You are making a big deal out of this. I think your phrase is fine as is.
    – user3169
    Mar 13, 2017 at 23:23
  • I've answered your question but could you please explain your example a bit more (about the accident)? Is that example even necessary to the question?
    – Catija
    Mar 13, 2017 at 23:23
  • Also I would not use accident and scenic in the same description.
    – user3169
    Mar 13, 2017 at 23:24
  • I should add there are a lot of "less polite" ways to say someone is exaggerating or telling lies, that are generally short and simple and to the point.
    – Andrew
    Mar 13, 2017 at 23:58
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    @A-friend I use "bigger" in my answer...
    – Catija
    Mar 14, 2017 at 1:46

1 Answer 1

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An idiomatic version of what you have in your quote is: "blow something out of proportion":

to make something seem more important than it actually is. I thought the picture of him wearing a dress was pretty funny, but the local newspapers blew it out of all proportion.
Usage notes: often used with other adverbs to make a stronger statement: This case has been blown totally out of proportion. She blew the figures way out of proportion.

Another idiom might be "Making a mountain out of a mole hill".

But I don't think that the example you use really works with the phrase in your question. "Making something out to be a bigger deal than it really is", is actually a pretty good usage. It's acceptable. But it has to be a problem. Stretching the truth about how bad a traffic jam was is just exaggeration. This is about making a problem bigger than it is for the purpose of not doing anything about it, or making the issue seem worse than it really is to cast doubt or negative feelings on something.

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