Reporting Verbs: Upgrade Your English Beyond "Say" and "Tell"

A reporting verbs list is most useful when the verbs are linked to everyday experiences. There are particular verbs used to indicate advice as well as those that assist in reporting promises, warnings, suggestions, and opinions. The table presented below gives the various verbs, their main meanings, and examples of sentences.

These reporting verbs examples not only illustrate their meaning but also the first step in English reporting verbs grammar: never memorize the verb by itself. Get the verb along with the words that naturally come after it. Following that, take a look at this guide to English verbs if you want to establish a firmer grammar base before you study longer reporting patterns.

The main challenge with reporting verbs in English is the word after the verb. One verb is followed by to + base verb. Another needs a person before to + verb. A third needs -ing. This is why grammar patterns matter more than a long list.

Reporting verbs are dependent on the reported speech rules. When you switch between direct and indirect speech, changes in pronouns, time words, and tenses may occur. Adding a reporting verb is one additional element: it indicates the speaker’s intention.

Pattern 1: reporting verb + infinitive

Some verbs are followed by to + base verb. This structure is typical in cases when someone promises, agrees, offers, refuses, or decides to do something.

Typical reporting verbs with infinitives include action-oriented verbs such as agree, offer, promise, refuse, decide, and claim. The infinitive normally indicates the action that a speaker accepts, promises, or refuses.

There is a tendency among students to confuse this structure with other action verbs.

For example, you can say:

The word offer is easy to understand, but it still follows the pattern offer + to + verb.

Pattern 2: reporting verb + object + infinitive

Some verbs need a person between the reporting verb and the infinitive and they follow this structure:

reporting verb + someone + to + verb

A common mistake is forgetting the object.

We say: He advised me to study tonight, not He advised to study tonight.

This model also makes the say vs. tell difference clearer. Tell belongs to an activity that takes place between two or more people: telling someone. Say usually conveys the words or the content without inserting the person right after the verb.

Compare:

Pattern 3: reporting verb + gerund (-ing)

Some verbs are followed by -ing, not by to + verb. This is one of the most common problem areas because learners already know many patterns with infinitives.

Some reporting verbs followed by gerunds have to be learned by heart, such as suggest, recommend, admit, deny, and mention.

The biggest trap is suggest. Be careful since native speakers use suggested going or suggested that someone go not suggest to go.

For example:

Here, walking stays in the -ing form because it follows suggest.

Pattern 4: reporting verb + (that) clause

A that clause gives a complete idea after the reporting verb. In everyday speech, people often remove that, but the sentence still needs a subject and verb.

This pattern is useful for paraphrasing sentences. You do not need to copy every word from the original speaker. You can report the main idea with a verb such as explain, claim, admit, argue, or suggest.

Tense can also change in reported speech, especially when the original words are no longer connected to the present. A review of tenses in English can help you understand why “I am busy” may become “She said she was busy.”

In IELTS writing and academic tasks, basic verbs are not always wrong, but they can be too general. Academic reporting verbs help you show what a writer, speaker, chart, or study is doing with information.

For reporting verbs IELTS practice, pick the verb by the role it plays in the sentence. Use argue for a position, assert for a strong claim, suggest for a careful conclusion, and highlight for an important point. The table below connects each verb to its usage.

This set of verbs is part of the B2 English vocabulary because it encourages learners to develop their reporting skills beyond the elementary level. Besides, these verbs can be practical in essays, presentations and email communication at work.

When you learn lists such as verbs that start with p, the focus should be on verbs that you can frame in actual sentences, not merely words that seem sophisticated.

Increasing vocabulary does not necessarily entail lengthier sentences. On the contrary, a concise sentence empowered with a suitable reporting verb can be more impactful than a lengthy sentence that keeps using said, over and over again, without variation.

The first mistake is adding to where English does not need it. Learners sometimes write told to me because they translate from another language. In English, say told me.

For example:

The second mistake is using suggest to do. It happens because so many verbs really do take the infinitive. With suggest, English normally uses -ing or a that clause, so the structure changes even when the action verb is familiar.

For example:

The verb is simple, but the form after suggest changes to the grammar.

The third mistake is forgetting to change the tense. In reported speech, “I live here” usually turns into “She said she lived there.” The change varies by situation, but beginners should at least verify whether backshifting is necessary.

For example, when you go through lexical lists like verbs that start with t, keep in mind not just the verb’s meaning but also the form it assumes in actual utterances.

Reporting verbs provide you with the opportunity to express speech-giving methods or ways to convey someone’s statements. Instead of always using say and tell, you can indicate whether somebody gave advice, promised, warned, denied, suggested or argued about something. This will certainly make your English more precise at the workplace or during examinations.

The key habit is to learn each verb along with its pattern. A solid list of reporting verbs can serve as a memory aid not only for the meanings, but also for the next elements, such as an infinitive, an object, a gerund, or a that clause. First, you may want to do short phrase exercises, and then use the verbs in longer reported speech.