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.
The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence structure. Note that a number of verbs can take more than one form.
| verb object infinitive | verb infinitive | verb (that) | verb gerund | verb object preposition gerund | verb preposition gerund |
| advise encourage invite remind warn | agree decide offer promise refuse threaten | admit agree decide deny explain insist promise recommend suggest | deny recommend suggest | accuse blame congratulate | apologize insist |
| Examples: Jack encouraged me to look for a new job.
They invited all their friends to attend the presentation.
Bob warned his friend not to open the can of worms.
| Examples: She offered to give him a lift to work.
My brother refused to take no for an answer.
Mary decided to attend university.
| Examples: Tom admitted (that) he had tried to leave early.
She agreed (that) we needed to reconsider our plans.
The teacher insisted that he didn't give enough homework.
| Examples: He denied having anything to do with her.
Ken suggested studying early in the morning.
Alice recommends playing golf in Bend, Oregon.
| Examples: They accused the boys of cheating on the exam.
She blamed her husband for missing the train.
The mother congratulated her daughter on graduating from college.
| Examples: He apologized for being late.
She insisted on doing the washing up.
Peter apologized for interrupting the meeting.
|
Modal verbs could, might, would, should, ought, had better, ... do not usually change in reported speech.
- Direct speech: “I should go to the dentist.”
- Reported speech: He said that he should go to the dentist.
- Direct speech: “I should have gone to the dentist.”
- Reported speech: He said that he should have gone to the dentist.
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