reporting clause (mid position) – English Grammar Profiler

Point 15 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH / DIRECT SPEECH is defined as:

the reporting verb in the mid position of the reported clause.

Here’s a list of the 10 most common B2 reporting verbs found in the mid position:

claimed, commented, muttered, observed, recalled, remarked, responded, sighed, stated, whispered

This is a very hard structure to expand. A search in iWeb for " _p _VVD , " gives us a start to work with.

(the specific strings are apparently ‘too’ general for iWeb and punctuation that is crucial for google searches does not work either.)

1 ” HE SAID , ” 28811 2 ” SHE SAID , ” 11094 3 ” I SAID , ” 8425 4 ” HE ADDED , ” 4032 5 ” HE CONTINUED , ” 2173 6 ” HE WROTE , ” 2131 7 ” HE REPLIED , ” 2038 8 ” THEY SAID , ” 1658 9 ” SHE ADDED , ” 1370 10 ” I REPLIED , ” 947 11 ” HE EXPLAINED , ” 880 12 ” SHE CONTINUED , ” 812 13 ” I THOUGHT , ” 791 14 ” SHE REPLIED , ” 762 15 ” HE ANSWERED , ” 692 16 ” SHE WROTE , ” 636 17 ” HE ASKED , ” 496 18 ” I ASKED , ” 465 19 ” SHE EXPLAINED , ” 432 20 ” HE CRIED , ” 424 21 ” I ANSWERED , ” 345 22 ” THEY REPLIED , ” 283 23 ” HE CONCLUDED , ” 274 24 ” HE DECLARED , ” 264 25 ” HE THOUGHT , ” 257 26 ” HE EXCLAIMED , ” 253 27 ” SHE CRIED , ” 245 28 ” IT SAID , ” 243 29 ” SHE ANSWERED , ” 228 30 ” HE NOTED , ” 224 31 ” WE SAID , ” 223 32 ” SHE ASKED , ” 214 33 ” HE BEGAN , ” 211 34 ” HE RESPONDED , ” 197 35 ” I CRIED , ” 193 36 ” THEY WROTE , ” 192 37 ” HE RECALLED , ” 167 38 ” HE STATED , ” 160 39 ” HE ADMITTED , ” 139 40 ” THEY ASKED , ” 131 41 ” I RESPONDED , ” 130 42 ” SHE EXCLAIMED , ” 123 43 ” HE REMARKED , ” 122 44 ” I CONTINUED , ” 115 45 ” SHE BEGAN , ” 109 46 ” SHE RESPONDED , ” 109 47 ” THEY ANSWERED , ” 109 48 ” HE OBSERVED , ” 104 49 ” HE LAUGHED , ” 103 50 ” SHE THOUGHT , ” 102 51 ” HE WARNED , ” 96 52 ” SHE RECALLED , ” 94 53 ” HE ARGUED , ” 93 54 ” HE WHISPERED , ” 89 55 ” HE SHOUTED , ” 88 56 ” HE SMILED , ” 81 57 ” I ADDED , ” 81 58 ” SHE WHISPERED , ” 77 59 ” THEY ADDED , ” 74 60 ” HE INSISTED , ” 71 61 ” SHE NOTED , ” 71 62 ” IT ADDED , ” 68 63 ” SHE CONCLUDED , ” 66 64 ” I EXCLAIMED , ” 64 65 ” YOU SAID , ” 64 66 ” I EXPLAINED , ” 63 67 ” I WROTE , ” 63 68 ” IT READ , ” 60 69 ” HE JOKED , ” 58 70 ” HE ANNOUNCED , ” 57 71 ” HE MUSED , ” 56 72 ” IT CONTINUED , ” 56 73 ” SHE LAUGHED , ” 56 74 ” SHE DECLARED , ” 54 75 ” I WHISPERED , ” 52 76 ” HE SIGHED , ” 50 77 ” HE COMMENTED , ” 49 78 ” SHE SIGHED , ” 48 79 ” HE MUTTERED , ” 47 80 ” I BEGAN , ” 47 81 ” SHE SMILED , ” 47 82 ” THEY CONTINUED , ” 46 83 ” SHE STATED , ” 45 84 ” HE PROCLAIMED , ” 44 85 ” I WENT , ” 44 86 ” I KNEW , ” 42 87 ” SHE ADMITTED , ” 42 88 ” HE REPEATED , ” 41 89 ” THEY CRIED , ” 41 90 ” HE CHUCKLED , ” 38 91 ” HE SUGGESTED , ” 38 92 ” IT WORKED , ” 38 93 ” HE CLAIMED , ” 37 94 ” ONE SAID , ” 35 95 ” HE ASSERTED , ” 34 96 ” HE PAUSED , ” 34 97 ” THEY CONCLUDED , ” 34 98 ” HE PLEADED , ” 33 99 ” SHE INSISTED , ” 33

100 ” I AGREED , ” 32

PELIC STUDENT Example:

Korean Female level 4 writing class

Some people advised me “exercise everyday”, but I didn’t want to exercise. So I looked for other advice, according to “the solution of insomnia“, Paul Jerard said, “Eat very light, read a book about something peaceful, and take a shower or a bath. You don’t have to do everything, but one of the above-mentioned ideas will work for you.”

*This example in PELIC is not really a mid-position reporting clause, but it still shows the complexity of citation prior to the direct speech.

The fact is that the middle position is incredibly rare which makes it surprising that this is not a C levels grammar marker. Here is a great report on it: http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/publications/CL2003/CL2001%20conference/papers/ikeo.pdf

And from Cambridge we have:

The reporting clause may sometimes come in the middle of the reported clause, especially in literary styles:

“No,” she said, “I’ve never seen it before.”

‘Was it,’ he asked, ‘the first time you had spoken to Mrs Dalton?’