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

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Speech representation | 805

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Speech reports may be reports of real, past speech events or they may be

hypothetical or be reports of things people will say or intend to say:

If he asks me to do it again, I think 

I’ll just say, “No. Do it yourself.”

We should ask them what day they can deliver the fridge and things.

REPORTING VERBS

489

Say

in its past tense form said is by far the most frequent reporting verb in direct

reports, especially in everyday spoken language:

I 

said, ‘Gran, I was only doing this while I was waiting for the kettle to boil.’

‘So you’re too busy for me,’ he 

said. ‘I feared it had come to that.’

Say

and tell are also by far the most frequent reporting verbs in indirect reports in

everyday spoken language:

And after a moment he 

said that he had been in the valley for forty-seven years.

Mrs Johnson 

told her that Robert was part of a consortium.

Ask

is used frequently in informal conversation for indirect reports, but not for

direct reports:

They 

asked me what I thought about the food.

The use of ask in direct reports is mostly confined to written fictional styles:

‘Will you not tell me the truth now?’ he 

asked.