Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

SPEECH ACT VERBS (AGREE, INSIST, PROMISE)

422

Speech act verbs are verbs which a speaker can use to explicitly label a speech act.

These include verbs such as advise, allow, apologise, ask, demand, deny,

(dis)agree

, forbid, insist, object, order, permit, predict, promise, state, suggest.

Performative verbs

422a

When these verbs are used to perform the speech act (i.e. in their performative

function), they occur with a first person subject and present simple tense form:

I 

name this ship ‘Fearless’.

(I am naming this ship ‘Fearless’.)

A: You’re a bit late.

B: I apologise.

Many of the common functions associated with the modal verbs can also be

realised by explicit use of speech act verbs. Speech act verbs are more frequent 

in formal contexts:

‘Just what are you going to do about this?’ Pearson yelled at them. ‘

I demand

you arrest them all

.’

(compare: Arrest them all!/You must arrest them all.)

[speakers are cleaning out a cupboard]

A: Er, 

I suggest we take everything out 

and just look at it, decide whether we

want it. And if we really don’t want it then just chuck it if we don’t know. 

B: Okay. But we’ve got a bit of a space problem. 

A: That’s true.

(compare: We could/should take everything out./How/what about

taking/what if we take everything out.)