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Unit 11: The diary of a double agent
Reported speech

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  1. 1 Pop-ups
  2. 2 Hidden talents
  3. 3 Can't buy me love
  4. 4 Travellers' tales
  5. 5 The colleague from hell
  6. 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
  7. 7 Career changes
  8. 8 Art
  9. 9 Project management
  10. 10 The dog ate my homework!
  11. 11 The diary of a double agent
  12. 12 Fashion forward
  13. 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
  14. 14 Extreme sports
  15. 15 Food fads
  16. 16 Me, my selfie and I
  17. 17 Endangered animals
  18. 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
  19. 19 I'm really sorry...
  20. 20 Telling stories
  21. 21 Fakes and phrasals
  22. 22 Looking to the future
  23. 23 Becoming familiar with things
  24. 24 From rags to riches
  25. 25 Against the odds
  26. 26 Our future on Mars?
  27. 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
  28. 28 Dodgy dating
  29. 29 Annoying advice
  30. 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks

Session 1

Insist, demand and advise are all reporting verbs. Learn how and why we use this kind of verb in 6 Minute Vocabulary, then do lots of practice exercises to test yourself.

Sessions in this unit

12345

Session 1 score

0 / 14

  • 0 / 0
    Activity 1
  • 0 / 8
    Activity 2
  • 0 / 6
    Activity 3
  1. Activity 1
  2. Activity 2
  3. Activity 3

Activity 2

Time to practise

I can't deny it...

In 6 Minute Vocabulary we learned these useful reporting verbs: deny, admit, apologise, insist, suggest, advise, demand and offer.

We use them to talk about what someone has said. They're used more often in writing than speaking, and are especially common in journalism.

For example, a recent news story about the British economy said:

As the chancellor presented the first Conservative Budget in 20 years, he insisted that Britain had "turned a corner".

In other words, the chancellor said firmly that Britain had "turned a corner" (come out of a difficult situation). We often use insist when we know that not everyone agrees with what we are saying.

Read the text and complete the activity

To do

To test how well you understand these verbs, you're going to complete some quotes adapted from BBC news stories. Think about what each sentence means and choose the most appropriate verb.

News quotes

8 Questions

Choose the correct reporting verb to complete these quotes adapted from BBC news stories

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

Next

Well done. One more thing to learn is which words come after these verbs. Do we say advise to or advise that? Find out in the next activity.

Session Vocabulary

  • deny
    to say that something is not true, especially when other people are saying it is

    admit
    to say that something is true, although you don’t want to say this

    apologise for
    to say that you are sorry for something that you have done

    insist
    to say firmly that something is or isn’t correct, when other people are saying the opposite

    suggest (meaning one)
    to tell someone your ideas about what to do, where to go, etc.

    suggest (meaning two)
    to say something is true but not in a strong or direct way

    advise
    to tell someone what you think they should do, in a polite way

    demand
    to ask for something very firmly or aggressively

    offer
    to say that you are willing to do something

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