Reporting verbs

Reporting verbs

In Grammar definitions, you will find a summary of basic reported speech. This most commonly involves using the verbs say, tell and ask, as well as changes of verb tenses, times, places and pronouns:
"I am going to the shop."
He said (that) he was going to the shop.
"Sit down and open your books."
She told us to sit down and open our books.
"Will you come with us tomorrow?"
He asked me if I would go with them the following day.
A native speaker of English, however, will often use reporting verbs other than just say, tell and ask. Compare the following:
"I didn't do it!"
He said that he hadn't done it.
He denied that he had done it OR He denied doing it.
"I'll bring the book back tomorrow."
She said that she would bring the book back the following day.
She promised to bring the book back the following day.
"Please will you think about it some more?"
He asked me if I would think about it some more.
He begged me to think about it some more.
"First you should put the money in the slot and then you should press the button."
She said that I should first put the money in the slot and then press the button.
She explained what I should do.
Notice that different reporting verbs are followed by different structures, i.e.
deny + that-clause OR
deny + -ing form
promise + infinitive
beg + object + infinitive


For a list of different reporting verbs and their accompanying structures, see:
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/rep7.cfm
For more information on reporting verbs, see:
http://langues.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/sbeller/quizzes/Grammar_Goblins/GGReportedSpeech.htm
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/rep5.cfm
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/rep6.cfm
To see many examples of the use of reporting verbs, see the Web Concordancer:
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/scripts/concordance/WWWConcappE.htm
Type the past tense of the verb into the "search string" field, select any corpus and then click on the "search for concordances" button.

Source: http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/reportingverbs01.html