Question

Underline the reporting verb in the following sentence:
Father mentioned that he was going on a holiday.

Answer 1

Hint:Construct the grammatically correct and the most contextually sound direct speech. This will help you to understand exactly which verb has been changed to make it into reported speech.

Complete answer: In grammar, there are two types of speech that are
recognised - direct and indirect.
In a direct speech, the sentence is written exactly as the person said it. However, in indirect
speech, a third person repeats the sentence that was originally said, so there are many
changes in the sentence.
From direct speech to indirect speech, the tense has to be changed from present to past.
When you convert a sentence from direct to indirect speech, the tense has to be changed
compulsorily. So, naturally to convert a sentence from indirect speech to direct speech, one has to do the exact opposite.
A reporting verb is a verb that is used to contextualise the indirect speech. This verb helps us to understand the emotion behind the statement as there are usually no punctuations in indirect speech.
So, we will need to convert the given sentence into direct speech in order to find the reporting verb.
The verb can be changed to ‘said’ as the emotion is in the actual statement being said. So, the direct speech will be - Father said, “I am going for a holiday.”
This means that the verb ‘mentioned’ is the reporting verb as the sentence makes complete sense in the direct speech without it. The word ‘mentioned’ helps us understand that the father said this statement in passing.
So, the answer is that the verb ‘mentioned’ is the reporting verb in the given sentence.
Father mentioned that he was going on a holiday.

Note: Make sure you pick the verb that is different in direct speech. Understand the concept of a reporting verb first. Then try to answer the given question.