Step 4 Vocabulary practice - Reporting verbs

These verbs are often used to report what someone has said: acknowledge concede insist remark

maintain confirm reply accept

announce observe deny agree

promise explain claim reveal

point out suggest state imply

They can be followed by a clause beginning with That.’

For example: The protest movement claimed that the environment would suffer but the chairman of the planning committee guaranteed that it would be protected.

These verbs can be followed directly by ‘to’: accept, agree, claim, promise, threaten.

The hotel has agreed to reduce noise levels after midnight.

The protest movement has threatened to blow up the planned development.

Some reporting verbs are followed by a person, then To’: advise, instruct, orders remind, urge, ask, invite, persuade, tell, warn.

They persuaded the operator to drop the project. She warned them not to go ahead.

Task 1. Fill in the gaps with suitable verbs from the list Often more than one answer is possible. Mind the tense,

1) claim

2) promise

3) insist

4) point out

5) observe

6) state

7) maintain

8) acknowledge

9) imply

10) deny

11) reply

12) suggest

13) concede

14) accept

In a strongly-worded article Vanessa Gardner, editor of Tourism Alert (a) __that ‘Green Tourism’ is just another marketing gimmick to lure even more tourists to new destinations and make even more bucks for the operators.

She (b)__that tourism brings foreign income to developing countries but (c)__that all the local population get out of tourism is the privilege that of making our beds and shining our shoes And she (d)__that the marketing people are wrong to (e)__a holiday can only be GREEN if it takes place in an undiscovered part of the world and costs the earth.

She (f) __ that you only need twenty rich foreigners descending on an Amazonian village to create more environmental and cultural damage than 10,000 ordinary holiday makers enjoying themselves in a resort where there is no fragile ecosystem or culture left to ruin.

But in another article Anthony Gay of Outreach Adventures pic. disagreed.

He (g) __that Green Tourism was just a fashion and (h)__that operators

did care about the future. And to prove it he (i)__to donate $100 per person to the Worldwide Fund for Nature. How many businessmen would do that?

Notes: * [‘gimik] -уловка, ухищрение

Task 2. Use the reporting verbs to complete these sentences. Use each verb once only.

1. The guest__to leave unless he was given a non-smoking room.

2. The concierge__they visit the new nature reserve.

3. The receptionist__the guests when they come down to breakfast on their last morning that they need to check out before 11a.m.

4. The manager__his staff to switch all unnecessary lights off.

5. Tt’s dangerous to walk too close to the cliff,’ she _ the party.

6. The maid__having taken the necklace from Mrs. Brown’s room.

7. The local rep__the hotel guests to a farewell party.

8. The government__that there are sufficient tourist jobs in the area.

Task 3. Choose suitable reporting verbs to complete the story not using ‘say’ or ‘tell’. Mind the tense.

In an article published in The Times it was (a)__that out of the 120 million glossy brochures which are printed every year 38 million are thrown away. It (b)__that the reason why these brochures cannot be recycled is because of the inks that are used in the printing process. However the chairman of Green Flag International, a non-profit conservation organisation, is (c)__tour operators to become green and to save paper.

He (d)__that saving trees will also save the operators money. He also tries to (e)__hoteliers to conserve scarce resources by saving water and electricity. He (f)__that they no longer change towels daily and (g)__ their guests to switch off lights when leaving rooms. He (h) __ the campaign is an attempt to stop other countries suffering uncontrolled development on the scale seen in Spain in the 1970s.

Although he (i)__that his campaign has been a success in Malta he (j) __that he is often fighting public disinterest. ‘Until the general public (k) __‘Green Tourism’ and closes holidays where the tour operator shows he is concerned with protecting the environment, few tour operators will change their policies,’ - he (1)__.