10 Ways to Talk About Speech in English

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hi everybody welcome back to Talk words

my name is Alisha and today we’re gonna
talk about 10 ways to report speech

let’s go say the first word is say say
as a verb say is a very neutral word you

can use to report someone’s speech to
explain something someone said in the

past so for example he said the barbecue
was cancelled which is a simple neutral

report tell the next verb is tell tell
is used when one person is giving

information to another to tell someone
something they did not know before don’t

say tell me your phone number that’s
weird but like can you tell me where the

station is can you tell me where to buy
a hamburger can you tell me where to

pick up my new car like so giving
someone information they don’t know or

or on the other hand explaining
something one way to another person so

don’t tell me what I can’t do is a very
good lost reference if you’ve ever

watched lost so tell another example
sentence my boss told me I was doing a

good job speak the next one is speak
speak so we use speak when we’re talking

about language ability like I speak
English I speak Japanese we can use

speak in the past tense to report
something but it usually sounds a little

more formal so like I spoke to my boss
about or I spoke to my parents about or

I spoke to my boyfriend or girlfriend
about bla bla bla that using speak

instead of talked makes it sound a
little bit more formal so you can use

speak but it’s going to sound polite in
a sentence my colleagues spoke with me

about an upcoming project
was like okay the next one the next two

actually are very very casual
expressions so when you’re speaking with

friends and you’re kind of talking about
a quick maybe somewhat emotional

conversation you will hear native
speakers especially Americans perhaps

this is unique somewhat to Americans use
the phrase was like I was like he was

like she was like this is a very casual
way to report speech and you’ll hear an

often very very quickly together so
someone will say I was like what and

then she was like no and then I was like
yeah that’s the kind of pattern you’ll

hear it in very very quick ways to
report speech but the subject changes I

was like he was like she was like we
were like this is a way to share what

happens quickly instead of I said he
said she said which might sound a little

too formal we can use I was like he was
like to do that instead so this is a

really fun one and if you can use this
naturally I think that it’ll really help

you sound more natural - so in a
sentence and then he was like I love

that movie was all the next one is also
a similar to was like we have the

expression was all so it was all don’t
worry about all all does not have the

meaning of the whole of something or a
complete something instead was all this

set phrase is used to report speech
usually this one is used when there’s

some kind of emotional emotional aspect
to your conversation or it’s a little

dramatic or maybe a little exciting we
use it the same way as was like in that

very very quick style of speaking and
then he was like and I was all and then

she was like and I was all we used those
together but I was all has a little more

emphasis I feel I tend to use it when my
when I want to express a stronger

emotion and I was all no way or and I
was all what so you can use it for those

very like surprised emotions or maybe
angry emotions was like and was all are

both used and very cash
will situations so in a sentence and I

was all oh my god me to talk the next
word is talk so talk similar to say is a

fairly neutral verb when reporting
speech you’ll use it in a situation

where someone is giving new information
to you but maybe it’s a two-way

conversation so for example we talked
about blah blah blah for a topic or my

boss talked to me about blah blah blah
so maybe new information is being

exchanged but the conversation is
two-way there are multiple participants

with tell it’s like the nuances sort of
one person is reporting information

giving information with talked it’s
there’s an exchange happening there so

keep in mind when you use the word talk
you will say either I talked to or I

talked with someone and then you’ll
usually have a topic so I talked to my

friend about blah blah blah I talked to
my friend about my new apartment I

talked to my boss about arrays I talked
to my boss know I talked to my dog about

what dogs knew so there’s some kind of
there’s some kind of exchange happening

there you’ll need to use to or with when
you’re referring to the person or entity

you’re talking to and you’ll use about
to refer to the subject so you can use

this one yeah when you’re when you want
to discuss exchanges of information so

in a sentence she talked to me about my
family mention let’s go to the next one

the next one is mention mention is used
when like something is just there’s just

one small point in a conversation like
just a little side note or maybe it’s

not the focus of a conversation but just
something someone says quickly or

there’s just a little thing that you
hear oh you mentioned something about

blah blah blah or you mentioned that a
new project

it’s it’s maybe not the focus of the
conversation but something that you

heard a little bit about that’s that’s
when we use the verb mention we can also

use it in a statement like please
mention any skills you have on a resume

so it’s the nuance is sort of like like
just a little bit of information is when

we use mention so in a sentence our
manager mentioned upcoming changes at

the company to go on and on
okay the next expression is to go on and

on so to go on and on means just to talk
for a very long time so maybe you have a

co-worker or a friend or a family member
that just talks and does not stop

talking we say to go on and on that’s
the expression we use so in a sentence

the speaker at the seminar was going on
and on about the topic if you really

want to emphasize it you can say it was
going on and on and on and on and on

that really emphasizes that the person
continues to speak so if you know

somebody who does that a lot you can use
this expression to talk about them

according to the next expression here is
according to according to is used

actually in the news or like to
officially report something so according

to sources or according to the police
according to the government official

according to my teacher according to my
mother these are like direct reports of

information and their direct reports of
information from a specific source so

according to the newspaper my
neighborhood has 50,000 amazing ramen

shops that’s not true but if I want to
instead of just saying my neighborhood

has 50,000 amazing ramen shops I’m
giving a source for that so according to

my newspaper this is this is where I got
the information so this is important to

use in news and newspapers and any kind
of official documentation you will see

and hear according to in these cases in
a sentence according to a witness at the

scene the suspect escaped
report great so the next one is report

so reports similar to according to we
use report in more official situations

so to officially share information like
to report to the police to report to

your teacher to report to your boss
sometimes it means to submit

documentation like to give someone a
written report sometimes it’s to share

information officially just just with
your voice to report news or to report

an update so when you want to give and
give official information we’ll use the

verb report so in a sentence sources in
the area report that the accident was

not serious thank goodness all right
okay that’s the end that is the end so

those are ten words and ten phrases that
you can use to talk about talking to

talk about speech so I hope that these
are useful for you and I hope that this

helps clear up a few things about the
difference between like say and tell and

speak and so on but if you have any
questions please let us know in the

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top words and we’ll see you again soon
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