REPORTING VERBS

Apart from say and tell, there are other verbs that can introduce sentences in reported
speech. Let's see an example:
Bart said: "I won't do it again, dad".
This sentence can be reported as:
1. Bart told his dad that he wouldn't do it again.
2. Bart promised his dad not to do it again.
Both reported speech sentences are correct, but the second one is better because the
verb "promise" tells us a lot about the intention of the speaker, whereas "tell" is more
neutral.

Bart promised his dad not to do it again.

PATTERN 1 VERB+TO INFINITIVE

"I'll bring some refreshments", she said.

She offered to bring some refreshments.

These are some of the verbs that have this pattern

agree decide offer
promise refuse threaten
claim swear demand

PATTERN 2: VERB + OBJECT + TO-INFINITIVE

"Please, stay!", she said.

She begged me to stay.

Some verbs that follow this pattern are:

advise ask convince
encourage invite beg
forbid instruct order
request remind urge
persuade warn
PATTERN 3: VERB +ING/NOUN PHRASE

"I didn't steal the money", he said

He denied stealing the money.
Some verbs that require a gerund are:
admit confess acknowledge
advise deny recommend
regret suggest

PATTERN 4: VERB + PREPOSITION + ING/NOUN PHRASE

Prepositions are always followed by nouns or gerunds, so it's easy to remember that
these verbs with prepositions will be followed by the -ing form. Note that you can have
an object either between verb and preposition or right after the preposition.

"Yes, you stole the money" she said.

She accused him of stealing the money.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" she said.
She apologised for being late.

Verb + Prep. + V-ing Verb + Object + Prep. + V-ing

apologise for accuse s.o. of
insist on blame s.o. for
confess to congratulate s.o. on
complain about forgive s.o. for
warn s.o. against / about
disuade s.o. from

PATTERN 5: VERB + SUBJECT + (SHOULD) INFINITIVE

This structure is more formal, so it is more commonly used in written English. The verb
in the subordinate clause is in the subjunctive, but in British English it is more usual to
use should and the infinitive instead of the subjunctive. Examples:

"Let's go shopping", he said.

He suggested that they go shopping.
He suggested that they should go shopping
He suggested going shopping. (This is less formal, as we have already seen, but
much more common.)

These are some of the reporting verbs followed by a subordinate clause:

agree ask claim

demand decide guarantee
promise propose recommend
request swear suggest