Look at these examples to see how reporting verbs are used.
direct speech: 'You should come, it's going to be a lot of fun,' she said.
indirect speech: She persuaded me to come.direct speech: 'Wait here,' he said.
indirect speech: He told us to wait there.direct speech: 'It wasn't me who finished the coffee,' he said.
indirect speech: He denied finishing the coffee.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Grammar explanation
When we tell someone what another person said, we often use the verbs say, tell or ask. These are called 'reporting verbs'. However, we can also use other reporting verbs. Many reporting verbs can be followed by another verb in either an infinitive or an -ing form.
Reporting verb + infinitive
Verbs like advise, agree, challenge, claim, decide, demand, encourage, invite, offer, persuade, promise, refuse and remind can follow an infinitive pattern.
'Let's see. I'll have the risotto, please.''I'll do the report by Friday, for sure.'
- He decided to have the risotto.
'It's not a good idea to write your passwords down.'
- She promised to do the report by Friday.
- They advised us not to write our passwords down.
We can also use an infinitive to report imperatives, with a reporting verb like tell, order, instruct, direct or warn.
'Please wait for me in reception.''Don't go in there!'
- The guide told us to wait for her in reception.
- The police officer warned us not to go in there.
Reporting verb + -ing form
Verbs like admit, apologise for, complain about, deny, insist on, mention and suggest can follow an -ing form pattern.
'I broke the window.''I'm really sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.'
- She admitted breaking the window.
'Let's take a break.'
- He apologised for not getting back to me sooner.
- She suggested taking a break.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hi Paul Devening,
It's simply because different verbs have different grammatical patterns, and not all patterns are available for every verb.
That said, some verbs can be grouped together according to their meaning. For example, warn and some other verbs (see the page above) can be used to report imperatives, as in your parking example, by using the pattern verb + object + (not) to + infinitive. Suggest is not in this category because the meaning does not fit - a suggestion is not an imperative.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello,
I am finding a comprehensive analysis for reporting "if conditionals" since I saw some exceptional rules in some books which are clashing with each other. Can someone explain this to me?
Hello Himansana,
We're happy to help you with specific questions, but I'm afraid we don't write comprehensive analyses in the comments. We are a small team with lots of other work to keep on top of!
But please do feel free to ask us specific questions about specific sentences.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
please explain direct speech. what would be answer?
He has said,'' They are waiting outside."
Hi RAMZANJANI,
If you want to change it into indirect speech, the verb should be "are" or "were", depending on whether they are still waiting outside now, or not any more. --> He said that they are/were waiting outside. You can find more information about this on our Reported speech 1 page (linked).
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello, would you please tell me if the following sentence in reported speech is correct? Maria said, "Angela had worked at this company bafore I came here."
Maria said that Angela had worked at that company before she had come there. Thank you in advance.
Hi VictoriaBeneva,
It looks mostly good. But I also suggest changing "came" (which refers to the place where the speaker is) to "went". Even better may be "before she (had) started working there", which seems clearer if you don't mind changing the wording of the original sentence a bit more. I think you can use either the past simple or past perfect for that verb.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
May I have a question about backshift tense?
Holly played soccer and she said "My mom didn't like it at first, but she never missed a game now"
And they report this sentence: Holly explained that her mom didn't like it at first, but she never missed a game.
Why do they keep past simple for "didn't like" and not backshift the tense?
Hello ngoc.mai.mindfulness,
It's better to say 'Holly explained her mother hadn't liked it at first', but in informal speaking and writing we often use a past simple form instead of a past perfect form.
We often use a past simple (1 'liked') instead of a past perfect (2 'had liked') when the action was true in the past (at the time the sentence in direct speech was spoken) and is still true in the present (at the time of the sentence in indirect speech). In the sentence you ask about, there was a change and so it's more confusing. This is why I think it would be better to say 'had liked'.
But informal speaking we sometimes take shortcuts. I don't know where this sentence came from, but that might be the reason for it here.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi Kirk,
I took this sentence from the book Oxford Discover Futures 3, Unit 8, published by Oxford. I was confused and asked some around me but they couldn't explain reasonably.
I don't know if they mistook the answer or not. I explained to my students that "hadn't liked" didn't sound naturally, so they used "didn't like" as the natural rule_ the most important thing in English. And they like --.-- .
Thanks for your answer.
Kind regards,