“She said she's pregnant”, “they said they're getting married”, “he said he
needs to take some rest”, “he said he needs some money”… Oh! Too much of “said”,
well there's nothing wrong and using the word “said” in English but there are times
when we see something in order to show our happiness or we say something in anger or
we say something in a very bossy manner, so in this lesson today we are gonna look at
certain words that you can use instead of using the word “said”.
Hey friends it’s me Niharika and welcome back to a new lesson. Well today you are gonna learn some words
that you can use instead of using the word “said” in English. Now there are times
when you really want to enhance your dialogue or make it more descriptive, so using the
word said is blah! So these are certain words that you can use. We are gonna have a look
at the very first one which is “announced”. Now when I say that, “my friend said that
he is getting married”, okay, it's not incorrect but it's more like an announcement, something
that he wants everybody to know okay, it's official, so rather than using the word “said”,
you can use the word “announced”. So “he announced that he's getting married”, okay?
So that's how you can use the word “announced” when you want something to be known. The next
word that I have for you is “ranted”. Now very often we see things when we are very
angry, okay? So most of the dialogues are said in a very angry manner, so rather than
saying that, “he said I have to sign these papers”, so someone asked you to sign some
papers and he asked you in a very angry manner so you can use the word “ranted”. So when
someone says something angrily you can use the word “ranted” instead of “said”.
Like “he ranted, I need to sign the papers right now”, okay? Moving on to the next
one is “commanded”. Now when you say something in a very bossy manner okay, very bossily,
then you can use the word “commanded”, like “he said the project should be delivered
in ten days”, so it's not really a request, but this person is commanding you to do that.
So rather than saying ‘he said that the project should be completed in ten days’,
use the word “commanded”. “He commanded”, okay? So in a very bossy manner he said this
to you, so rather than using the boring old word “said”, you can use the word “commanded”.
The next one is pretty similar to “commanded”, it's “dictated”. So again when someone
says something in a very bossy manner, rather than using the word “said”, you can use
the word “dictated”. “She dictated me to do this”, so ‘she said that I have
to do this’, instead of using the word “said”, you can use the word “dictated”, okay?
So again it's a very, in a very bossy manner. Moving on to the next word that you can use
is, “insisted”. Now there are times when someone says something repeatedly, “ah!
please do this for me”, “please, you have to do it”, “you have no option, you gotta
come along with us”, okay so he's been poking you constantly that, “do it, please do it,
right now”, so he or she is forcing you to do something, right? So rather than saying
that oh he kept saying this he said that I have to go using the “said” is quite boring,
so use insisted. So “he insisted that I should go with them for the movie” or for
the picnic, because this person has been telling you to do that constantly, okay or forcing
you, okay? So use the word “insisted” instead of using the word “said”. Moving
on to the next one is “requested”. Now you also say something in the form of a question,
right? So you say that oh he said that he wanted some money so rather than saying “said”,
when especially you are saying something like a question, use the word “requested”,
“he requested for some money”, “he requested the to borrow my bag”, okay? So requested
is more like a question, so when someone says something in the form of a question, using
the word “said” is pretty inappropriate, you can use the word “requested” instead.
The next one “enquired”, again you need to use it in a very similar manner just the
way you use the word “requested”. When someone is asking you or telling you something
in the form of a question, you can use the word “enquired”. “He enquired about
the details of this project”, so ‘he said that he wanted the details for this project’,
pretty boring, use the word “enquired”, okay? Moving on to the next one is “responded”,
Now here we learnt “requested” and “enquired”, you use these words when you are asking something
but “responded” and “acknowledged”, these two words can be used instead of using
the word “said”, when you have to give an answer to someone, okay? So when you are
answerable, you say that, “she responded”. Well for example, “John sent me an email
enquiring about the details of this project and I responded in few hours”, so rather
than saying that, “I said or I sent the details” you can use the word “responded”
or you can also use the word “acknowledged”, so both of these words are used instead of
using the word “said”, when you are saying something as an answer to something, okay?
The next one that I have for you is “mumbled”. Now what is mumbled? You know there are people
who say something in their mouth, they are not clear enough and you just don't get them
right, for example if I have to mumble, I would mumble like, ‘I need to learn English,
I don't know what's going on…’ did you understand what did I say? Well definitely
not, because I was not clear enough, I'm mumbled, I mumbled in my mouth. So mumbling is very
common, people do mumble too much but then when you say that, “ah! She said something,
I didn't quite understand her”, so rather than saying or using the word “said”,
‘like she said something’, you can use the word “mumbled”, “oh! She mumbled
something, I couldn't understand her”, okay? So when someone is not clear enough you don't
understand them well because they didn't speak clearly, they didn't say something clearly,
which means they mumbled. So you can use the word “mumbled” instead of “said”.
And then the last one that I have for you is “boasted”. “She boasted about her
new ring” or “she boasted about her new job”, so someone who sings his or her own
praise, it means that they're boasting about themselves. So when someone says that or you
hear someone saying that, “oh! I have this big house, such an amazing house and I have
like an amazing car…” ok, if you want to discuss this person with another friend
of yours, you would use the word “said”, “oh! She said that she has a big house,
she said that she has a big car…” so rather than using the word “said” too many times
you can use this word in English instead of “said”, “boasted”. She boasted about
a new car and her new house, okay? So that's how you will use this word so these are 11
words, 11 alternatives to the word “said” so the next time you want to enhance your
dialogue or make it more descriptive by adding too many emotions to it, well do not stick
to the word “said” use these words instead and I'll be back with a new lesson soon till
then you take care.