As we have already seen, the most common verb for reported speech is to say. We can use to say with or without an object:

✓He said that he had been to work.
✓He said to me that he had been to work.
say + (to sb) + (that) + clause

Another common verb is to tell. When use to tell we have to use an object:

✓He told me that he had been to work.
xHe told that he had been to work.
tell + sb + (that) + clause

When we report questions we usually use ask:

She asked me if I liked chocolate.

There are many other reporting verbs we can use that have different patterns.

Reporting verbs + -ing form

These verbs can have an -ing verb pattern: