Reporting verbs in English: a list of patterns and examples

Say and tell report that words happened. Reporting verbs report what the words did. He said he was sorry is a fact about a sentence; he apologised is the same fact in one word, with the speech act built in. She said she would definitely, definitely pay me back collapses into she promised, and he said he had never touched the money collapses into he denied it, and in both cases the verb carries something the original words only implied: a commitment in one, an accusation hanging in the air in the other.

The catch, and the reason this page exists, is that each of these verbs comes welded to a grammar pattern. Promise takes a to-infinitive. Suggest takes -ing. Accuse demands of. There is no rule that predicts which verb takes which; the pattern is simply part of the word, the way gender is part of a French noun. Learn the verb without its pattern and you have learned half a word.

What say and tell cannot do

Say and tell are the workhorses of reported speech, and that page covers their machinery: the tense backshift, the pronoun changes, say versus tell. But they are blunt instruments. They tell the listener that speech occurred and nothing about its temperature.

• She said she would come. (a fact)
• She promised to come. (a commitment she can now break)
• She agreed to come. (someone had to ask)
• She threatened to come. (nobody wants her there)

Same underlying words, four different events. English speakers reach for the sharper verb constantly, and each sharper verb drags its own grammar with it.

Verb + to-infinitive: promise, offer, agree, refuse, threaten

These verbs commit the speaker to a future action, so they point forward with to:

• She promised to write every week.
• He offered to pay for the meal.
• They agreed to meet at six.
• I refuse to answer that.
• He threatened to call the police.

No object goes between the verb and to: she promised to call, not she promised me to call. If you want the listener in the sentence, use a that-clause instead: she promised me that she would call.

Refuse deserves a flag. Learners often feel that a negative verb should take a negative-looking pattern and reach for -ing. It does not: he refused to sign, never he refused signing.

Verb + object + to-infinitive: advise, warn, remind, invite, beg

These verbs push the action onto someone else, so the someone else has to appear, straight after the verb:

• The doctor advised me to rest.
• She warned him not to be late.
• He reminded her to lock the door.
• They invited us to stay for dinner.
• She begged them to wait.

The negative goes before the to: warned him not to be late, exactly as in reported commands. Tell and ask follow this same pattern when they report orders and requests, which the reported speech page covers. The wider family of verbs that take an object before another verb has its own page at verb patterns with objects.

Verb + -ing: suggest, deny, admit, recommend, regret

These verbs point backwards or sideways at an action rather than committing anyone to a future one, and they take the -ing form:

• She suggested taking a taxi.
• He denied breaking the window.
• She admitted stealing the money.
• I recommend booking early.
• He regrets saying it.

Two traps live here, and they are the two biggest mistakes on this page.

First, suggest never takes an object plus to-infinitive. She suggested me to visit the museum is wrong, however natural it feels, and it feels natural in most languages. The repairs are she suggested visiting or she suggested that I visit. Recommend sets a similar trap: recommend going or recommend that I go are the safe choices. (He recommended me to go does exist in British English, but it is formal and many teachers mark it down.)

Second, deny takes -ing, not to. He denied to break the window is wrong. Deny looks backwards at something that already happened (or did not), and English marks that with -ing: he denied breaking it. The general logic of which verbs take -ing and which take to lives at gerund and infinitive; reporting verbs follow it loosely, with commitment verbs taking to and backward-looking verbs taking -ing, but the pairings still have to be learned one by one.

Verb + preposition + -ing: apologise for, insist on, accuse of

Some reporting verbs only reach the action through a preposition, and after a preposition English allows exactly one verb form: -ing.

• He apologised for being late.
• She insisted on paying for everyone.
• They accused him of cheating.
• She blamed me for losing the keys.
• He warned us against swimming in the river.
• She thanked them for coming.

The preposition is not decoration; it is part of the verb, and dropping it is a mistake natives notice immediately. He apologised being late and they accused him to cheat are both wrong, and both common. Learn the verb, the preposition and the -ing as a single unbreakable unit: apologise for doing, insist on doing, accuse somebody of doing, blame somebody for doing, warn somebody against doing.

Verb + that-clause: the usual fallback

Many reporting verbs also accept a plain that-clause:

• He admitted that he had forgotten.
• She complained that the room was cold.
• He claimed that he had never seen her.
• She warned me that the road was closed.
• He insisted that it was true.

Inside a that-clause the normal rules of reported speech apply, backshift included: "I forgot" becomes he admitted that he had forgotten. That page owns the backshift table; nothing about it changes because the verb in front is admit rather than say. As usual, the that itself is optional in speech: he admitted he had forgotten is fine.

The that-clause is a good pattern to reach for when you are unsure, but not every verb takes one: offer, refuse, accuse, invite and thank do not (she offered that she would pay is wrong). But notice what the other patterns buy you: she promised to call is shorter than she promised that she would call, and carries no tense to shift. The to-infinitive and -ing patterns have no backshift because they have no tense at all; the reporting verb does the time-keeping for the whole sentence.

One refinement for formal English: after suggest, insist, demand and recommend, a that-clause can take the bare form of the verb: she suggested that he see a doctor. That construction belongs to the subjunctive, and in everyday British English should or a plain present does the same job: she suggested that he should see a doctor.

The pattern map

Some verbs sit in more than one row. Admit takes -ing and a that-clause (he admitted taking it / he admitted that he took it) with no change of meaning. Warn takes three: warned me to leave, warned me against leaving, warned me that the road was closed - and there the patterns do split the meaning, since warn to pushes an action, warn against blocks one, and warn that just delivers bad news.

The verb takes a side

One last thing worth knowing, because it affects how you read as much as how you write. Reporting verbs are quietly evaluative. He said the money was his is neutral; he claimed the money was his invites you to doubt him; he admitted the money was his says he was hiding it; he insisted the money was his tells you somebody doubted him. Newspapers run on this. Choose claim over say and you have taken a side without uttering an opinion, which is precisely why careful readers watch the reporting verbs first.

Common mistakes

The ones learners make most.

1. Suggest + object + to-infinitive. She suggested me to go is wrong, always. Use she suggested going or she suggested that I go.
2. Deny or admit + to-infinitive. He denied to break it should be he denied breaking it. Backward-looking verbs take -ing.
3. Dropping the preposition. He apologised being late needs for; they accused him to steal needs of stealing. The preposition is part of the verb.
4. Refuse + -ing. She refused signing should be she refused to sign. Commitment verbs take to, even negative ones.
5. Promise + -ing. He promised paying me back should be he promised to pay me back.
6. An object after promise. She promised me to call should be she promised to call or she promised me that she would call.

Practice

Report each sentence with the verb in brackets. Answers are below.

1. "I did not take the money." (deny)
2. "Let's take the train." (suggest)
3. "I will pay you back on Friday." (promise)
4. "You broke the glass!" (accuse)
5. "Do not swim in the river." (warn)

Answers: 1. He denied taking the money. 2. She suggested taking the train. 3. He promised to pay me back on Friday. 4. She accused him of breaking the glass. 5. He warned us not to swim in the river (or: warned us against swimming in the river).

The machinery these verbs plug into - backshift, pronoun changes, reported questions - is on the reported speech page. The would that appears inside their that-clauses is the future seen from the past, unpacked at future in the past. And the wider question of which verbs take -ing and which take to, reporting or not, is settled at gerund and infinitive.