Reporting what people say 16/17 ep.14

In this week's Premier Skills English podcast, Rich and Jack talk about the latest from the Premier League - there were big wins for Liverpool and Chelsea! We analyse some of the things that Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp said after the match. The language focus is on reporting verbs. We also have news about our Premier Skills Fantasy Football team, a new football phrase for you to guess and news about our fantastic new competition. Enjoy!

How much did you understand?

Vocabulary

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. You can see two examples here: 

Two goals from Sadio Mane helped put the Reds one point clear of Chelsea at the top of the table.

You can imagine Jurgen Klop shouting on the touchline.

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Can you remember all of them? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words in context. This can really help with understanding.

Language - Reporting Verbs

Reporting verbs are verbs which are used to tell people what another person said. The most common reporting verbs are 'say' and 'tell'. You may have heard them being used in the podcast. Here are a couple of examples:

Jurgen Klopp said that he was really happy.

Jurgen Klopp told his players to stay cool.

When we use 'say' and 'tell' to report what someone said, we use a different structure. 'Say' usually has a verb + (that) + clause pattern while 'tell' uses a verb + direct object + (that) + clause pattern. 'Say' and 'tell' are neutral in meaning so if we want to tell people how the person was feeling or what he or she was doing we need to use different reporting verbs. Some reporting verbs often follow the same pattern as 'say' and others follow the same pattern as 'tell'. 

Note: Some reporting verbs can follow both patterns. Let's look at the word 'promise'. Both of these examples would be correct:

He promised to work harder in the furure.

He promised his teacher to work harder in the future.

In this activity, try to use the correct reporting verb. Try to think of the meaning and the correct pattern.

Reporting Verbs - Meaning

When we want to report something that has someone has said we often concentrate too much on form instead of meaning. We think about changing the verb forms more than thinking about which reporting verb to use. We often use 'said' and 'told' too much. Take a look at this example from the podcast. Which phrase is the best?

Jurgen Klopp said that his players will work harder.

Jurgen Klopp has told his players to work harder.

Jurgen Klopp has urged his players to work harder.

The third sentence is the best. The first two are grammatically correct but only the third sentence tells the listener what is really happening. 'To urge' means to encourage or persuade strongly so this phrase can tell the audience what Klopp is doing and how he's feeling. The other two sentences don't tell us this. In the podcast, we asked you to complete three sentences with appropriate reporting verbs. Here are the sentences:

1. Arsene Wenger ___________ his team looked flat in the North London Derby.
2. Antonio Conte ____________ Eden Hazard and Chelsea's performance.
3. The manager _____________ about the referee after his penalty decision.

Write your sentences in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Then, write some more sentences for other learners to guess. You can either think of sentences yourself or find some reporting verbs on a sports website. The BBC's football section is a good place to look.

In this activity, try to remember the sentences from the previous activity and type in the correct reporting verb.

Another example:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic joked that he had scored 25,000 Premier League goals!

Transcript