Verbal Action Flashcards
to speak
Used in more formal, authoritative situations. It is used in more general terms, not as specific as tell and say. It is also used when referring to languages and when referring to giving a speech to a large crowd
Would you mind speaking more slowly, please?
speak ill of someone
to say unkind things about someone
I never heard her speak ill of anyone.
I don’t like speaking ill of my colleagues, but there are a lot of incompetent people working here.
speak for yourself
I disagree with what you have just said
“None of us like the hotel.” “Speak for yourself – I think it’s OK.”
speak for someone
to express the opinions or wishes of someone
I can’t speak for the others.
to talk
Used in an informal situation and in generic terms
We talked about the party yesterday.
to tell
when speaking directly to a person so it follows an object in a sentence. Also frequently focuses on specific information or details about something. It is used in indirect speech, also known as reported speech. This means that it is not used when quoting someone else’s speech, just when paraphrasing what someone said.
The teacher told her students to study
to say
Never has a person as the object
I want to say something on this subject.
get across something
to communicate an idea or message successfully
I hoped to get across the idea that a community is more than just a bunch of people living in one place.
четко изложить мысль; довести до сознания
to confabulate
[конфабюлейт]
to have a casual and light conversation without sharing a lot of information
He confabulated a version in which the President praised him for the good work he was doing.
to bounce off
to share an idea with someone and get their thoughts or opinions
Can I bounce a couple of ideas off you?
to come out with
to say something suddenly and unexpectedly
He comes out with the strangest things!
to narrate
[нерейт]
to provide a spoken or written description of an event, story, etc.
to recount
to describe how something happened, or to tell a story
He recounted his adventures since he had left home.
to gab
to talk continuously and eagerly, especially about things that are not important
I got so bored listening to him gabbing on about nothing.
to prattle
to talk in a silly way or like a child for a long time about things that are not important or without saying anything important
Stop your prattling and go to sleep!
She’d have prattled on about her new job for the whole afternoon if I’d let her.
