B2 Reporting verbs

B2 GRAMMAR: REPORTING VERBS

The Hedge War Of Elm Court

PICTURE

(you add this)

"Eleven years of war; forty minutes of actual negotiation."

verb + to-infinitive · verb + person + to-infinitive · verb (+ preposition) + -ing · that-clauses

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

The pettiest dispute you know

Discuss in pairs.

1. Neighbour disputes: noise, parking, fences, trees, smells. What's the pettiest neighbour conflict you've ever heard of?

2. How was it resolved - if it ever was?

3. Have you ever been on one side of a dispute like that yourself?

PICTURE

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B · BEFORE YOU READ

Minutes of a mediation

A community mediator writes up the strangest case of her career: a hedge, two neighbours, and eleven years.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

1. What was the dispute about?

2. What finally ended it?

3. First: if you were the mediator, what would your opening question be?

PICTURE

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B · READING

The hedge war of Elm Court

"Paper remembers so that people don't have to."

As a community mediator, I am contractually calm. I have sat between families arguing over wills, colleagues arguing over air conditioning, and, once, two grown men arguing over the correct way to stack chairs. Nothing, however, prepared me for the hedge of Elm Court.

The facts, as agreed by both sides: Mr Aled Prys, at number 6, owns a hedge. Mrs Selin Aydin, at number 8, owns a garden that the hedge had been slowly swallowing for eleven years. That is where agreement ended.

At our first session, Mrs Aydin accused Mr Prys of deliberately letting the hedge grow to block her sunlight. Mr Prys denied planning anything of the kind, but - a crucial detail - he admitted neglecting the hedge "since approximately 2016". He then blamed his knee for the neglect, and his knee, not being present, could not defend itself. Mrs Aydin demanded action; Mr Prys refused to pay a professional gardener, insisting on doing the work himself, "when the weather and the knee align". Mrs Aydin observed that this alignment had last occurred, by her records, during a previous government.

B · READING (continued)

The hedge war of Elm Court

Progress required smaller steps. I encouraged them to describe what the garden meant to each of them, and something shifted: Mr Prys apologized - genuinely, I believe - for letting things slide after his wife died, and Mrs Aydin, softening, admitted exaggerating the sunlight issue "by perhaps twenty per cent". She invited him to see the shade from her kitchen window. He agreed to look. Looking, in my profession, is half the battle.

The breakthrough came from an unexpected direction. Mrs Aydin's grandson, seventeen, offered to cut the hedge himself for a modest fee, provided both households fed him. Mr Prys warned him not to touch the bird's nest in the north corner; the boy promised to work around it, and suggested trimming in stages so the birds could adjust. Both parties, visibly relieved to be arguing about logistics instead of history, agreed to a schedule. I persuaded them to put it in

writing - not because I doubted them, but because paper remembers so that people don't have to.

Eleven years of war; forty minutes of actual negotiation. As they left, Mr Prys reminded Mrs Aydin to bring in her washing, "because it'll rain by six". It did. In my line of work, that's what peace sounds like: neighbours threatening each other with nothing worse than the weather.

C · COMPREHENSION

Who did it? Mrs Aydin (A), Mr Prys (P), the grandson (G), the mediator (M).

1. Accused the other side of acting deliberately.

2. Admitted neglecting the hedge, but blamed something else for it.

3. Refused to pay for professional help.

4. Apologized for letting things slide after a bereavement.

5. Offered to do the work for food and a fee.

6. Warned someone not to disturb the bird's nest.

7. Persuaded both sides to put the agreement in writing.

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Three grammatical families

a) Mr Prys refused to pay a professional gardener. / He agreed to look. / The boy promised to work around it.

b) I encouraged them to describe what the garden meant. / I persuaded them to put it in writing. / He warned him not to touch the nest.

c) She accused Mr Prys of letting the hedge grow. / He admitted neglecting it. / He apologized for letting things slide. / ...insisting on doing the work himself.

1. Sort the reporting verbs in (a), (b) and (c) into three grammatical groups. What follows each group - and which group needs a person before the infinitive?

2. Which verbs in group (c) also need a preposition? Build the collocations: accuse sb ___ · apologize (to sb) ___ · insist ___ · blame sb ___.

3. How do we make these patterns negative? Find the example in (b), then transform: She reminded him to lock the door and He admitted taking it.

D · SORT THEM

Sort these reporting verbs into the three columns.

Write each verb where it belongs. Two of them can go in more than one column - which, and why?

agree · offer · refuse · promise · threaten · advise · ask · encourage · invite · persuade · remind · tell · warn · admit · deny · suggest · recommend · regret · apologize for · insist on · accuse sb of · blame sb for

+ to-infinitive

+ person + to-infinitive

+ -ing form

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Denying, and the that-clause alternative

a) Mr Prys denied planning anything of the kind.

b) Mrs Aydin admitted exaggerating... -> Mrs Aydin admitted that she had exaggerated...

c) He said he was sorry for the delay. vs He apologized for the delay.

1. In (a), deny + -ing. What would the direct speech have been, roughly? Why is deny stronger than not admit?

2. Look at (b). Which reporting verbs can also take a that-clause (agree, admit, deny, promise, regret, suggest...)? Does the meaning change?

3. Why bother? Compare the two sentences in (c). What do specific reporting verbs give a writer that say / tell + a full clause doesn't?

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete the rules with one word in each gap.

• Group 1: agree, offer, refuse, promise, threaten + ______ + infinitive.

• Group 2: advise, ask, encourage, invite, persuade, remind, tell, warn + ______ + to-infinitive.

• Group 3: admit, deny, suggest, recommend, regret; apologize for, insist on, accuse sb of, blame sb for + ______ form.

• Negatives: not ______ do (groups 1 and 2) / not ______ (group 3).

CAREFUL

Suggest and recommend never take a person + infinitive: He suggested me to leave. Say He suggested leaving or He suggested that I leave.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Report each line with the verb in brackets.

1. "I'll cut it in stages." (promise) -> He ______.

2. "Don't touch the nest." (warn) -> Mr Prys ______.

3. "You let it grow on purpose!" (accuse) -> She ______.

4. "I did NOT plan anything." (deny) -> He ______.

5. "Why don't we meet in the garden next time?" (suggest) -> The mediator ______.

6. "I won't pay a gardener. Absolutely not." (refuse) -> He ______.

7. "I'm sorry I shouted last spring." (apologize) -> She ______.

8. "Remember to bring in your washing." (remind) -> He ______.

9. "You should get everything in writing." (advise) -> The mediator ______.

10. "It was my fault the meeting started badly." (admit - use a that-clause) -> She ______.

F · FREER PRACTICE

The mediation

In threes: two neighbours with an invented dispute (the trampoline, the barbecue smoke, the opera singing at 7 a.m.), one mediator.

• Improvise the session for four minutes. The mediator must keep both sides talking.

• Then each participant writes two sentences of "minutes" reporting what happened - using at least five different reporting verbs and *no said at all*.

• Read the minutes aloud; the class checks the patterns and awards the most diplomatic wording.

PICTURE

(you add this)

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST An overgrown hedge blocking a neighbour's garden and light for eleven years; ended by the grandson's offer to cut it (fed by both households), a staged schedule sparing the bird's nest, and a written agreement.

C 1 A · 2 P · 3 P · 4 P · 5 G · 6 P · 7 M.

D PART 1 1 Group 1 (verb + to-inf): refuse, agree, promise, offer, threaten. Group 2 (verb + person + to-inf): encourage, persuade, warn, advise, remind, invite, ask, tell. Group 3 (verb (+ preposition) + -ing): accuse of, admit, apologize for, insist on, suggest, deny, blame for. 2 accuse sb of · apologize (to sb) for · insist on · blame sb for. 3 warned him not to touch - negative infinitive after group 2. Transforms: She reminded him not to lock the door; He admitted not taking it.

D SORT Column 1: agree, offer, refuse, promise, threaten. Column 2: advise, ask, encourage, invite, persuade, remind, tell, warn. Column 3: admit, deny, suggest, recommend, regret, apologize for, insist on, accuse sb of, blame sb for. Both columns: ask (ask to leave / ask sb to leave) and promise (promise to come / promise sb to come, rarer); regret takes -ing and to-infinitive with different meanings.

D PART 2 4 "I did not plan anything (of the kind)"; deny actively asserts the opposite, while not admit only refuses to confirm. 5 agree, admit, deny, promise, regret, suggest all take a that-clause; the meaning is essentially unchanged. 6 Compression plus interpretation: the verb itself carries the speech act (apology, threat, refusal), so the writer characterises as well as reports.

RULES to · person · -ing · to · doing.

E 1 He promised to cut it in stages. · 2 Mr Prys warned him not to touch the nest. · 3 She accused him of letting it grow on purpose. · 4 He denied planning anything. · 5 The mediator suggested meeting in the garden next time. · 6 He refused to pay a gardener. · 7 She apologized for shouting the previous spring. · 8 He reminded her to bring in her washing. · 9 The mediator advised them to get everything in writing. · 10 She admitted that it had been her fault (that) the meeting (had) started badly.