7.15 Another reporting structure that is used in informal spoken English is be like. Be like can represent either speech or thought. In writing, be like is usually followed by a comma. The quote is sometimes in quotation marks, and sometimes not.
He got a call from Oprah, and he was like, ‘Of course I’ll go on your show.’
He’s like, ‘It’s boring! I hate chess!’ And I’m like, ‘Please teach me!’
The minute I met him, I was like, he’s perfect.
As with other reporting verbs, you can use be like with a noun or a personal pronoun: for example, you can say She was like, …, The doctor was like, … or Jane was like, …, followed by the thing that she/the doctor/Jane said or thought.
Unlike other reporting verbs, you can also use be like after the pronoun it. This structure is often used to present a mixture of speech and thought, or a general situation. For example, if you say It was like, Oh wow! it is possible that nobody actually said or thought Oh wow! Rather, the sentence gives us an idea of the situation and means something like It was amazing/surprising.
So I get back in the bus, quarter of an hour passes and it’s like, Where’s Graham?
When that happened it was like, Oh, no, not again.
Be like always comes before the reported clause.
Reporting someone’s actual words: direct speech
7.16 When you want to say that a person used particular words, you use direct speech. You can do this even if you do not know, or do not remember, the exact words that were spoken. When you use direct speech, you report what someone said as if you were using their own words.
Direct speech consists of two clauses. One clause is the reporting clause, which contains the reporting verb.
‘I knew I’d seen you,’ I said.
Yes please, replied John.
The other part is the quote, which represents what someone says or has said.
‘Let’s go and have a look at the swimming pool,’ she suggested.
‘Leave me alone,’ I snarled.
You can quote anything that someone says – statements, questions, orders, suggestions, and exclamations. In writing, you use quotation marks (also called inverted commas in British English) (‘ ’) or (“ ”) at the beginning and end of a quote.
‘Thank you,’ I said.
After a long silence he asked: ‘What is your name?’
Note that, in written stories, quotes are sometimes used without reporting clauses if the speakers have been established, and if you do not wish to indicate whether the quotes are questions, suggestions, exclamations, etc.
‘When do you leave?’ – ‘I should be gone now.’ – ‘Well, good-bye, Hamo.’
7.17 Thinking is sometimes represented as speaking to oneself. You can therefore use some verbs that refer to thinking as reporting verbs in direct speech.
I must go and see Lynn, Marsha thought.
When you are using direct speech to say what someone thought, you usually omit the quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quote.
How much should he tell her? Not much, he decided.
Perhaps that’s no accident, he reasoned.
Why, she wondered, was the flag at half mast?
7.18 Here is a list of reporting verbs that are often used with direct speech:
add
admit
advise
agree
announce
answer
argue
ask
assert
assure
beg
begin
boast
claim
command
comment
complain
conclude
confess
continue
decide
declare
demand
explain
grumble
inquire
insist
muse
observe
order
plead
ponder
pray
proclaim
promise
read
reason
recite
reflect
remark
reply
report
respond
say
state
suggest
tell
think
urge
vow
warn
wonder
write
A few of these verbs can or must be used with an object that refers to the hearer. See paragraphs 7.75 to 7.76.
verbs that describe the way in which something is said
7.19 If you want to indicate the way in which something was said, you can use a reporting verb such as shout, wail, or scream. Verbs like these usually occur only in written stories.
Jump! shouted the old woman.
Oh, poor little thing, she wailed.
Get out of there, I screamed.
Here is a list of verbs that indicate the way in which something is said:
bellow
call
chorus
cry
mumble
murmur
mutter
scream
shout
shriek
storm
thunder
wail
whisper
yell
7.20 Another way of describing the way in which something is said is to use a verb that is usually used to describe the sound made by a particular kind of animal.
Excuse me! Susannah barked.
You can use a verb such as smile, grin, or frown to indicate the expression on someone’s face while they are speaking.
‘I’m awfully sorry.’ – ‘Not at all,’ I smiled.
It was a joke, he grinned.
7.21 You use verbs like bark and smile in direct speech when you want to create a particular effect, especially in writing.
position of reporting verb
7.22 There are several positions in which you can put the reporting verb in relation to a quote. The usual position is after the quote, but it can also go in front of the quote or in the middle of the quote.
You have to keep trying, he said.
He stepped back and said, Now look at that. You see, he said, my father was an inventor.
7.23 If you put the reporting verb in the middle of a quote, it must go in one of the following positions:
That man, I said, never opened a window in his life.