reported speech (present simple)

Point 12 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH for CITATION is defined as:

PRESENT SIMPLE of the reporting verb to report information from a written source and a present tense verb in the reported clause.

 

We can start our search with:

_nn1 says|tells

and then choose nouns related to citation:

1 REPORT SAYS 19880
2 BIBLE SAYS 18326

3 COMPANY SAYS 14282

4 WEBSITE SAYS 7829

5 USER SAYS 7386
6 LAW SAYS 7018
7 GOVERNMENT SAYS 6766
8 TITLE SAYS 5601
9 DOCTOR SAYS 5542
10 MAN SAYS 5254
11 TRUMP SAYS 5034
12 OFFICE SAYS 4807

13 MANUAL SAYS 4800
14 BIBLE TELLS 4687
15 ARTICLE SAYS 4571

16 NAME SAYS 4477

17 STUDY SAYS 4385

18 GROUP SAYS 4313
19 SITE SAYS 4008

20 SCRIPTURE SAYS 3831

21 DEPARTMENT SAYS 3700

22 BOOK SAYS 3605

23 LORD SAYS 3365
24 AGENCY SAYS 3337
25 MOTHER SAYS 3254

26 BOOK TELLS 3247

27 PERSON SAYS 3240

28 RESEARCH SAYS 3027

29 GUY SAYS 2994
30 FAMILY SAYS 2913
31 DOCTOR TELLS 2850
32 WOMAN SAYS 2845

33 STATEMENT SAYS 2809

34 HISTORY TELLS 2799
35 MOM SAYS 2766
36 PAGE SAYS 2754
37 WIFE SAYS 2743
38 LEGEND SAYS 2737
39 COUNCIL SAYS 2700
40 HUSBAND SAYS 2510

41 SOURCE SAYS 2447

42 FILM TELLS 2385

43 SERVICE SAYS 2383

44 DESCRIPTION SAYS 2347

45 EXPERIENCE TELLS 2343

46 PAPER SAYS 2336

47 ASSOCIATION SAYS 2318

48 AUTHOR SAYS 2312
49 TEXT SAYS 2253

50 CITY SAYS 2249
51 TEAM SAYS 2238
52 MINISTER SAYS 2147
53 APOSTLE SAYS 2145
54 OFFICIAL SAYS 2114

55 POST SAYS 2109
56 RESEARCH TELLS 2089

57 SOURCE TELLS 2069

58 FRIEND SAYS 2057

59 LETTER SAYS 1998

60 FATHER SAYS 1961

61 LABEL SAYS 1936

62 SCIENCE SAYS 1932

63 STORY TELLS 1876

64 COMPLAINT SAYS 1866
65 TEACHER SAYS 1859
66 DAD SAYS 1820
67 WORD SAYS 1751
68 KING SAYS 1737
69 LAWSUIT SAYS 1717
70 EXPERT SAYS 1666
71 GUT TELLS 1666

72 DOCUMENT SAYS 1629

73 MANAGER SAYS 1588
74 OWNER SAYS 1585
75 MAN TELLS 1580
76 APPLE SAYS 1562
77 LAWYER SAYS 1552
78 PRESIDENT SAYS 1547
79 RELEASE SAYS 1530
80 GOOGLE SAYS 1528
81 HOUSE SAYS 1515
82 COMMISSION SAYS 1510
83 SUIT SAYS 1510
84 SENSE TELLS 1488
85 SOCIETY SAYS 1460

86 STORY SAYS 1452
87 SURVEY SAYS 1452
88 SIGN SAYS 1437

89 DOC SAYS 1434

90 MESSAGE SAYS 1434

91 FIRM SAYS 1418
92 THEORY SAYS 1418
93 COURT SAYS 1404
94 BOSS SAYS 1388
95 BOARD SAYS 1366
96 UNIVERSITY SAYS 1365
97 BANK SAYS 1327
98 SPOKESMAN SAYS 1315
99 NARRATOR SAYS 1302
100 ADMINISTRATION SAYS 1299


This allows us to narrow down the search ngrams with”

statement|scripture|film|study|report|manual|website|bible|description

|paper|author|text|post|research|source|label|letter|document|survey

|message|sign|advert|book|report|article|story|journal says|tells * * * *

And we can now delete rows that have no chance of offering further present simple to the right:

1 FILM TELLS THE STORY OF A 363

  Tehran Times
“When the Moon Was Full” named best at Resistance …
Produced by Mohammad-Hossein Qasemi, the film tells the story of a woman from Tehran who marries a man from an Iranian province near the …
*note: it seems rather limiting that the complexity at B2 requires ‘written source’. 

2 FILM TELLS THE STORY OF THE 199
3 BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF A 193
4 BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF THE 186

8 BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF HOW 96
9 FILM TELLS THE TRUE STORY OF 66
10 BIBLE TELLS US THAT WE ARE 65
11 FILM TELLS THE STORY OF AN 62

13 BOOK TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED 53
14 FILM TELLS THE STORY OF TWO 51
15 FILM TELLS THE STORY OF HOW 48
16 BIBLE TELLS US THAT GOD IS 47

19 BIBLE SAYS , ” THERE IS 38

21 SOURCE TELLS E ! NEWS THAT 36
22 BOOK TELLS THE TRUE STORY OF 35
23 BIBLE SAYS , ” DO NOT 34

28 FILM TELLS THE TALE OF A 30

30 BIBLE SAYS , ” GOD IS 29

32 STORY TELLS THE TALE OF A 29

35 BIBLE TELLS US TO LOVE OUR 26

37 BIBLE SAYS , ” THE LORD 25
38 BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF AN 25

40 BIBLE SAYS , ” IF YOU 23
41 BIBLE SAYS , ” IT IS 22
42 BIBLE TELLS US THAT IN THE 22
43 SOURCE TELLS E ! NEWS . 22
44 BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF TWO 21

47 BIBLE SAYS , ” THE WAGES 20
48 BIBLE TELLS US THAT GOD HAS 20
49 ARTICLE TELLS THE STORY OF THE 19
50 BIBLE TELLS US THAT IT IS 19


PELIC STUDENTS:

3129,fx9,Japanese,Female,175,5,w,374,1,30,

This is a thesis statement. It says there are three characteristics and does not say what they are. The writer is going to explain about each characteristic in each paragraph.

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