In this lesson, I'm going to teach you how to use eight wonderful words instead of the word "say".
So, instead of just saying: "He said this" or "She said this", you will have eight other verbs that
you can use that basically communicate the same idea as "say", but more specifically and more
precisely. Okay? So, let's look at what they are. The first word is "announce". When we "announce"
something, we say it publicly. For example: "He announced that he was running for president."
Or we could announce... say something officially: "He announced that she had won the contest."
Or also, we announce something when we say it loudly. For example: "They announced that the
flight was ready for boarding." Right? So, this means "announce" - something
public; something official; something loud, sometimes. Okay? The meaning varies a little bit,
but I think from the examples, you get a good idea of what it means "to announce" something.
All right? Think of a president standing like this, and he's making an announcement;
he's saying something official - "to announce" something. All right. Next: "mention".
"Mention" is much quieter. "Mention" is when we say something quickly, or we say something in
passing. All right? So, the... an example could be: "He mentioned that he was looking for a job."
He mentioned it, okay? He didn't come out and announce it; he just mentioned it in passing. Or
our... our very famous Canadian singer, named Gordon Lightfoot, had a beautiful song many
years ago, called: "Did She Mention My Name?" So, what it means "to mention"... "Did She Mention My
Name"? This is a song about somebody who was in love with someone, and he wanted to know:
"Does she still remember me? So, when you met her, did she mention along the way...? Did she mention
my name? Did she say my name in passing?" Okay? So, that's the word "mention". All right?
Next: "insist". So, "to insist" is like this: He insisted. So, for... or: She insisted. So, "to
insist" means to say something firmly; to say it forcefully. And usually, we do this in the context
when somebody is saying one thing and you are saying something else; or two people are saying
different things, and one person is insisting: "No. It's like this." Perhaps the other person
is insisting: "No. It's like that." So, what does that sound like? Well, very often in court,
we see this kind of drama going on. Right? One person is saying: "No. I'm innocent." The other
side is saying: "No. You're guilty." So, this person is insisting he's innocent, and the other
side is insisting he's guilty. Okay? You see the idea of "insist"? You can look at it like this,
if you want to think about it physically. Right? Or, for example... it doesn't have to be that
dramatic; sometimes even in regular life. For example, you go to dinner with some friends,
and you insist on paying, but they say: "No. We're going to pay. You can't pay; we want to pay"
and they insist on it. So, they insisted on paying for dinner. Okay? It can also be in regular social
situations - okay? - that we use this word. Okay. The fourth one: "to deny". Here's the physical
representation of "deny" - it's like: "No". So, "to deny" means to say: "No" or to say: "No. It's
not true". For example, a famous president some years ago denied that he was having an affair.
Or "to deny", as I said, can mean: It's not true. So, let's say: "She denied being present at the
scene of the crime." That meant... that means she said: "No. I wasn't there." Okay? She denied.
See my body language? "To deny". This was "to insist", this was "mention", and this was "to
announce". Okay? Like you're standing behind a podium and you're announcing something. All
right? So, if you do these actions, they'll also help you to link this vocabulary in your mind.
Okay? So, these are the first four; I'm going to give you four more in just a second.
So, number five: "estimate". Okay? "To estimate" means to say approximately. Okay? Roughly; not
exactly. All right? For example: "They estimated it would take three months to finish the building"
or "They estimated the project would take... would cost five million dollars". Okay? So, "to
estimate" - your visual could be: They estimated. Okay? You're not exactly sure; it's not a precise
statement. It's a guess, sort of; an "estimate". Okay? "They estimated". Number six:
"complain". Okay? We have all complained. So, when we complain, what do we do? We show that
we are unhappy with something; we're dissatisfied with something. For example, you could complain
about the poor service that you experienced in a restaurant. You could complain about a dirty
hotel room. You can complain about lots of things. Okay? Usually when we're complaining, or if we see
people complaining, we can tell because they're not happy. Let's say they're complaining. They're
looking like this; sometimes they're disappointed, like this; sometimes they're a little bit more
forceful. But when we're complaining - some people are very angry; some people are a little bit
quieter, but - there is no happiness on the face, usually. Okay? So, your visual could be like this
or something else that you create to fix in your mind the image of complaining. All right? Next,
number seven: "to report". Okay? If you watch the news, you know that "to report"...
okay. Let's pretend this is my microphone. A reporter will stand
there and give information; give the news. So, "to report" means to give information about something.
For example, you could say: "They reported that the hurricane was approaching." So,
it could be that you report something that happened or something that is going to happen,
or that something is happening. Okay? So, it could be past, present, future - doesn't matter.
Or they reported that... in a business context: "They reported that sales had increased in the
last quarter." Okay? So it's not always with a microphone, but that's a good image for you
to keep in mind if you want to remember this word: "report". All right? Next: "claim".
Okay? Now, "claim" is to say something strongly without proof. Okay? The proof isn't there yet.
So when somebody claims something, we say... the police might say: "I don't... we don't
know. He claims that he was at home during the robbery. During the time of the robbery". Okay?
"He claimed that; we don't know that, because there's no proof". Okay? Or you could say:
"They claimed that they had mailed the cheque, but we didn't get anything. We didn't receive
anything." So, your visual for "claim" could be something like this: "I don't know."
Now, that doesn't mean that the person who is claiming something or the other side that's
claiming something is telling a lie; it could very well be true. All this word means is that
somebody is saying something, but there is no proof or there's no proof yet. All right?
So, to review: "to estimate" - like this. "He estimated it would take that long".
"To complain" - "No. Terrible service". "To report" or "to claim" - "I don't know. That's what
he claimed; I'm not sure." Okay? So, if you really want to master these words now - these eight good
words that you can use instead of the word "say" - then please go to our website at www.engvid.com,
and there you can do a quiz on this of these words -right? - so you can really be sure
exactly how they're used. And also, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel,
so you can continue to get lots of lessons about how to improve your English
very quickly. All right? Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.