Teenage Problems
Senior 6 · English
Teenage Problems
Lesson 3 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
A report of a speech is never a recording. The writer chooses a reporting verb (said, warned, urged, admitted) and every choice tells the reader how the words were meant. Below, the school newsletter reports the counsellor's talk from the previous lesson. Compare it with what he actually said.
Counsellor urges S6 to "pause, think, choose"
At Monday's assembly, the school counsellor, Mr Nshimiyimana, reminded S6 students that pressure is a normal part of the final year. Although he admitted that a little exam pressure was useful, he warned students not to believe that one set of results would decide their whole lives.
He explained that peer pressure rarely sounded like a threat, and he advised students to buy time by saying, "Let me think about it." Moreover, he insisted on the importance of telling someone when the pressure became too heavy.
Turning to relationships, he stated that sexual contact with a child is abuse and a crime, and that it is never the child's fault. As a result, he urged anyone who is offered gifts or money by an older person in exchange for a relationship to report it. He asked the students whether they had written down the helpline numbers, and he apologised for speaking ten seconds longer than he had promised.
Definition
Choosing the verb is half the skill; the other half is using the pattern that follows it.
| Pattern | Verbs | Direct words → report |
|---|---|---|
| verb + that clause | say, explain, claim, admit, deny, insist, warn, promise, state | "I didn't take the phone." → She denied that she had taken the phone. |
| verb + object + to-infinitive | advise, warn, urge, encourage, remind, persuade, tell, ask, beg, invite | "You should talk to someone." → He advised us to talk to someone. |
| verb + to-infinitive | agree, refuse, offer, promise, threaten, decide | "No, I won't copy it." → Ineza refused to copy it. |
| verb + -ing | admit, deny, suggest, recommend | "Let's study together." → She suggested studying together. |
| verb (+ object) + preposition + -ing | apologise for, insist on, accuse sb of, blame sb for, warn sb against, congratulate sb on | "You broke the window!" → He accused me of breaking the window. |
Worked example
Choosing a reporting verb. Report each sentence with the most precise verb.
Linking words with the same meaning often follow different grammar. That is where most mistakes happen.
| Meaning | Conjunction (joins two clauses) | Adverb (starts a new sentence, then a comma) | Preposition (+ noun or -ing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| contrast | although, even though, while, whereas | However, Nevertheless, On the other hand, | despite, in spite of |
| addition | and, not only … but also | Moreover, Furthermore, In addition, | as well as, in addition to, besides |
| cause | because, since, as | — | because of, owing to, due to, as a result of |
| result | so, so … that | Therefore, Consequently, As a result, For this reason, Thus, | — |
| condition | if, unless, provided that, as long as | Otherwise, | in case of |
Worked example
One idea, three structures. Join: He was tired. He revised until midnight.
Wrong: Despite he was tired … (a preposition cannot take a clause). Wrong: Although he was tired, but he revised … (one linker is enough).
Warning
In English, unstressed vowels usually shrink to the weak sound /ə/ (schwa), whatever letter is written. That is why the endings of relevant and dependent sound the same but are spelt differently. Stress also decides whether a final consonant doubles.
| Trap | Examples | A way to remember |
|---|---|---|
| -ant or -ent? | relevant, significant, pleasant · dependent, independent, persistent | Look at the noun: relevance, dependence. The adjective keeps the same vowel. |
| -able or -ible? | acceptable, avoidable, reliable · responsible, possible, visible | If you can remove -able and leave a whole word (accept, avoid), it is usually -able. |
| a hidden vowel | separate, definite, pressure, argument | separate has "a rat" in it; definite comes from define; argue drops its e: argument. |
| doubling after a stressed ending | comMIT → committed, ocCUR → occurred, reFER → referred | Double the final consonant when the LAST syllable is stressed. |
| no doubling after an unstressed ending | TARget → targeted, LIMit → limited, BENefit → benefited | Stress on an earlier syllable: don't double. |
Tip
Say it, then find the stress. Before adding -ed or -ing to a two-syllable verb, say it aloud: preFER (preferred) but OFfer (offered). Where the stress falls tells you whether to double.
6 Minute Vocabulary: how to use English reporting verbs like 'insist', 'demand' and 'advise', from BBC Learning English (about 6 minutes). Note the pattern that follows each verb and add two examples to your own copy of the table above.
Practice
Sources and credits
