Reporting Verbs 2: Choosing The Best Verbs

 

We have gone on over reporting verbs and reported speech in the past in Business English: Reporting Verbs  and Business English: Reported Speech. You can also look at our post on using adverbs and and linking words for storytelling here.  Today, we're doing something different.

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This post focuses on how to improve your storytelling by using verbs that describe situations, feelings, and opinions you're talking more clearly and in a more interesting way. This will,

• help you improve your results in ESL speaking and writing tests.
• build your vocabulary and confidence.

Let's take a look at an example.

• Customer: Oh. Wow. This soup is far too salty. 
• Server: I'm terribly sorry. I'll take it back. We can give a different soup or something else?
• Customer: Yes, a ceasar salad, please.
• The server goes into the kitchen and speaks to the cooks.
• Server: Sorry guys. The customer complained the soup was too salty for her.
• Chef: Does she want another soup?
• Server: No, she asked for a ceasar salad instead.

It's okay to use the standard reporting verbs (asked, said, and told), but using more words like complained can give the listener/reader a better idea or image of what you are talking about. 

Read the dialogue below.

Melanie is attending a one-to-one feedback meeting with her ESL teacher, Kate

Kate: You're doing very well in your ESL studies, Melanie.

Melanie: Merci - oh - I mean, Thank you, Kate.

Kate: You're pronuniciation is great and you understand grammar perfectly.

Melanie: Thanks. What areas do I need to work on?

Kate: First off, again, your vocabulary is impressive, but you could start to use more phrasal verbs.

Melanie: Yes, I recently learned one yesterday:  to count on somebody.

Kate: Excellent!

Complete the dialogue below with the correct reporting verbs.  Remember: there is a correct answer and there is a better, more interesting answer. You may use the comments section to writ your answers. 

Later, Melanie meets her classmate, Vitor, at a nearby coffee shop.

• Vitor: So, what did Kate say about your English?
• Melanie: Kate _________1 I was doing very well in English class. She ________2 me on my pronunication and grammar.
• Vitor: Did she ________ 3 anything you have to improve?
• Melanie: Yes, she _________ 4  me that my vocabulary is impressive, but _____ me 5  to start using phrasal verbs more often. Then I _______6 that I had learned one just yesterday, count on. She was impressed.

1.  a) said b) told c) asked
2.  a) complemented b) commented c) complimented
3.  a) suggest b) bring up c) brought up
4.  a) reminded b) told c) scolded
5.  a) told b) encouraged c) said
6.  a) said b) mentioned c) told

Now try the reporting verbs exercise from Test English below. 

Reporting Verbs | B1 - B2 | Test English

For more reported speech, watch this video by Ronnie from engVid.