Forming sentences with reporting verbs
Reporting verbs are used to report what someone said more accurately than using say & tell.
- verb + infinitive
agree, decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten- They agreed to meet on Friday.
- He refused to take his coat off.
- verb + object + infinitive
advise, encourage, invite, remind, warn- Tom advised me to go home early.
- She reminded me to telephone my mother.
- verb + gerund
deny, recommend, suggest- They recommended taking the bus.
- She suggested meeting a little earlier.
- verb + object + preposition
accuse, blame, congratulate- He accused me of taking the money.
- They congratulated me on passing all my exams.
- verb + preposition + gerund
apologise, insist- They apologised for not coming.
- He insisted on having dinner.
- verb + subject + verb
admit, agree, decide, deny, explain, insist, promise, recommend, suggest- Sarah decided (that) the house needed cleaning.
- They recommended (that) we take the bus.
5 comments
Begem Tonyali
After having introduced the basic reporting verbs: ask, say and tell, I ask my students to write about 10 personal questions they will be able to ask me. Students love asking personal questions to their teachers! I put the questions on the board and then divide the class into 2 groups and make the first group leave and wait outside. Students from the first group take turns asking me their prepared questions and write down my answers.
Now, they leave and the second group does the same thing. However, what they do not know is that I am honest with one group and give correct answers, but lie to the other. It’s a good idea not to tell them beforehand.
When the second group is ready I ask the group outside to come in and tell the students to pair off as 1st and 2nd group partners.
For example, one student says: “I asked the teacher how old she was and she told me she was 16.” Then the other student says: “I asked the same question, but she told me she was 36.” etc… until all the questions are reported.
They have to pay attention to the usage of the reporting verbs and have fun finding out which group the teacher lied to!
Joy
Love this idea! Thank you very much!
Ali Yassin
Why reporting verb is not part of grammar.. Or partial of it..
Antares
Today i’ve studied many news topics and how use in my gramar like:
The reporting verbs
The reported speech
The wish and if only
and
So and such
Gisa Fernanda SC
These two lessons have been so cool, I was finally able to correctly understand the forms of reporting verbs and in which cases so and such are used.
Thank you:)