So you know reported speech but do you know the reporting verbs? You need
to know quite a few for the B2 First Cambridge exam,
and to make things more difficult they have different grammar
rules. Ah! But don't worry! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here
is every reporting verb you need to know for the B2 First Cambridge exam.
First let's take a look at our reporting verbs.
These are all of the reporting verbs that you need to know.
Yes! All of them! Yes! Accuse, apologise, advise, ask, deny,
explain, offer, suggest, recommend, remind, warn, admit, say, tell.
Hey bruce, yes do you want to come to mine today?
You're gonna make me record a video! I don't want to do a video! No, I
promise we're not going to shoot a video! We're going to drink, we're going to
relax and we're going to play with my pet worms. I've got loads
of alcohol, loads of pet worms. You've got drinks? Alright, yeah mate, I'll be right there!
Alright, see you later. Yep. Alright. See you later. Bye...
bye. And we have the wonderful help of Bruce!
Uh, what's this? You lied to me! Do you remember what you said before? No...
What did I SAY before? What did I TELL Bruce? Here is my exact
speech: "we are going to drink and relax and play with my pet worms". How can we
report this speech using the reporting verbs
say and tell? And are there any differences?
Toby told bruce that they were going to relax
drink and play with his pet worms. Toby said that they were going to relax
drink and play with his pet worms. The first difference, the most important
difference, after TELL we need an object
pronoun. After SAY we don't. You cannot say
"I said bruce" or "you said me" or "I said him". No, no,
no! If you want to use an object pronoun with SAY we need the
preposition TO. Toby said TO Bruce.
I said TO him but usually it is not necessary it depends on the
context. For both of these structures we can use
THAT but again it's not necessary.
Then we transform our sentence into normal
reported speech: everything moves back one tense. You told me
that we were going to drink and play with your pet worms.
You lied to me. "You lied to me". What is bruce doing here? Is he accusing,
denying, suggesting, offering, recommending, advising, warning,
which one do you think it is? Bruce is accusing.
To accuse means to suggest someone did something bad.
Lying is a terrible thing to do. Bruce accused Toby of lying. The grammar
then is subject plus accuse plus
object pronoun plus of plus gerund or ing form.
No, Bruce! I did not lie to you! How dare you! Yes you did! Oh, Toby!
Oh me! What am I doing here? Toby is denying something.
To deny means to say something is not true when it actually is.
Toby denied lying to Bruce. The grammar then is subject plus deny
plus the gerund. Well, you are stupid for denying
doing it because you recorded the conversation
for this video! Look! Okay, okay. I did it!
I lied to you, alright!? Finally I am telling the truth, but what am I
doing?
Toby is admitting something. To admit means to be honest about
something bad, usually something bad you have
done. Toby admitted to lying to Bruce. Toby admitted that he had lied to Bruce.
Here we have two options: subject plus admit plus to (if you want, it's not
necessary) plus the gerund. Or subject plus admit plus that
plus reported speech. So everything goes back a tense. Yep, I'm sorry for
lying, Bruce. So now
what is toby doing? Toby is apologising. To apologise means to
say sorry. Toby apologised to Bruce for lying. Subject plus apologise
plus for plus the gerund. Alright, mate but if you do it again
yeah, I will kill your pet worms! My worms!
You wouldn't! I would because I don't even
like them! I just come to your house because you give me drinks! You know what
I mean? If you do it again I will kill your pet
worms. Terrible. What is Bruce doing?
Bruce is warning. To warn someone means to inform someone of a
possible danger. Here the danger is Toby's pet worms
dying. Oh no! You can warn someone to do
something or warn someone not to do something. Subject plus warn
plus object pronoun plus not (if it's negative)
plus to plus the infinitive. Okay, okay! I won't do it again. I'll be honest,
Toby, yeah this betrayal has really hurt my
feelings and it's going to take me a long time to
get over this. I guess what I really want to know is
why? Yeah, why did you do this? What is bruce doing? Here Bruce is
asking. If you ask something you say a question. Bruce
asked toby why he had done it. Subject plus ask plus the object pronoun
plus a question word plus reported speech.
A question word is what, how, where, why when, where.
I only lied because I thought you wouldn't agree to a video.
Well obviously! I don't want to do it! You've got 50 subscribers,
no views, people are starting to laugh at you,
and it's embarrassing for me, yeah? Of course they're laughing! I'm a funny guy!
They're laughing at you, they're not laughing with you!
What? What is Toby doing? "I only lied because I didn't think you
would agree to a video." Toby is explaining. Now we have
two options. Toby explained to Bruce why he had lied. Toby explained to Bruce
that he had only lied because he hadn't thought Bruce would agree to a video.
The first is subject plus explain plus to Bruce (if you want to clarify who the
speaker was talking to) plus a question word plus reported
speech. Here toby is explaining his reasons with
BECAUSE so we need the question word WHY.
Or subject plus explain plus to Bruce plus that plus reported
speech. Okay, well I won't do it again. From now on you will not be in any more
videos, Bruce. But what should I do
to improve the channel? What can I do because you clearly know
everything about running a channel and I find it incredibly stressful!
Turning on a camera, talking. Ah! My life is hard...
Well why don't you get someone more attractive
to appear in your videos? Yeah? And uh change the channel name, change the logo,
and change the editing style. Okay...
Yeah and uh get someone else to write them.
So what would I do then? Nothing. That's the point! I think
the problem with SMASH English is you! Ah, what is Bruce doing here?
Three of these reporting verbs describe it.
Which three? Suggest, recommend and advise.
Advise is formal. Suggest is informal. Recommend is usually advice based on
personal experience but not always. So let's look at the grammar! Bruce
advised getting someone more attractive to appear in the videos.
Bruce suggested getting someone more attractive to appear in the videos.
Bruce recommended getting someone more attractive to
appear in the videos. So for all of these we can use
subject plus reporting verb plus gerund. We can also use THAT with SHOULD
to talk about what was said in the past. Bruce advised that Toby should get
someone more attractive to appear in the videos.
Bruce suggested that Toby should get someone more attractive to appear in the
videos. And Bruce recommended that...
... you get the idea! We can use
TO plus INFINITIVE with advise and recommend
but NOT with suggest. Bruce advised Toby to get someone more
attractive to appear in the videos. Bruce recommended Toby to get someone
more attracted to.... We CANNOT do this with suggest. So who
should create a new name design a new logo,
write the scripts, film the videos, be in the videos, edit the videos, upload the
videos? Well I could do it if you wanted?
But you said you hated making videos, Bruce! No I didn't! I said I hated making
videos with you! I could make SMASH English great agai...
Well not again because it never was great...
But I could make it great! So what do you say?
Here is Bruce reminding or offering? This one is obvious! Bruce is offering.
To offer means to express a willingness to do something
for someone else. "I could take this channel
and make it great again". Bruce offered to take the channel
and make it great. Subject plus offer plus to plus infinitive. Well, Bruce!
That will not be necessary because thanks to you
we have just made a fantastic video about
reporting verbs! What?! Aww you stupid fu... And with that we are
finished! Now you know every single reporting verb
for the b2 First Cambridge exam! What! Toby! We haven't done
remind! Don't worry, Toby! I have everything under control! If you liked
the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if you
haven't already, leave a comment down below! Toby reminded everyone to
SMASH that like button. Subject plus remind plus
object pronoun plus to plus infinitive. Time for a drink! My name is Toby and
this was SMASH English. No I'm not doing this...
Why am I wearing a microphone!?