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
bye