AVOID overusing 'SAID' - 50 best alternatives through STORY! (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

- Hello everyone and welcome back to English with Lucy.

I'm right here in front of my favourite tree.

A lot of you seemed to like it last time.

So don't worry if not,

I will bring back the white background when necessary.

However, I have some very important news.

Said is dead.

Yes, that's right, the word said is dead now.

We're not going to use it anymore.

(chuckles)

Obviously I'm joking.

However, English is my mother tongue

and I overuse said.

I actually remember having lessons at school

when I was a little girl, about alternatives for said.

This really helped me with my writing and my vocabulary

so now naturally, I'm going to pass that knowledge onto you.

In this lesson, I am going to give you 50,

I hope that's 50, (chuckles) who knows?

50 alternatives for the word said,

and these alternative will be conveniently grouped

into 10 little categories.

Now 50 might sound quite a lot,

but I have included all 50 alternatives into one story.

Yes, today, I'm going to be reading you a story

that is also a vocab and listening lesson.

And the best part is, it's a true story

about my first job as a waitress.

Now this is a lot of vocabulary,

so I have created PDF with all of the vocabulary.

You can download it.

All you have to do sign up to my mailing list.

The link is in the description.

Now, before we get started with the story,

I would just like to thank the sponsor of today's lesson.

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Right, let's get started with the story

and the vocab lesson.

Here is the first part of the story.

As I've previously stated, I used to work as waitress.

I've remarked on this and a couple of older videos.

I am pleased to report that nobody was harmed

during my time as a waitress,

but I will add that some customers

didn't receive what they ordered.

Okay, so in that section of the story,

we have four, that's three, four alternatives for said,

and these are all grouped under the heading of

no emotion or normal.

You'll see going forward, that a lot of

the other alternatives have emotion or feelings

attached to them, or they're used for a specific purpose.

So we have one, to state.

To state.

Two, to remark.

To remark.

Three, to report.

To report.

And four, to add.

To add.

Now onto the next group of alternatives,

we have alternatives for when you're

asking a question or replying.

So this is how I got my first job.

It's a conversation between me and my mum.

"How can I get a job when I live in a tiny village

"with no shops?" I asked.

"Why don't you try the local pub?" answered my mum.

"That's a very good idea," I acknowledged.

So later that day, I walked into the pub.

"Do you have any vacancies

"for a weekend waitress?" I inquired.

"We might be able to make some space for you!"

replied the landlady, Linda.

"Please make space for me!" I begged.

"Can I see your CV?" she requested.

"I can show you my exam grades

"but I don't have any work experience," I explained.

"Why would I care about your exam grades?

"This is a pub.

"You can start on Saturday!" she retorted.

Okay, we finished the second part of the story.

This is all based on my experience.

I remember feeling so embarrassed

when they didn't want to see my exam grades.

Let's take a look at the alternatives for said,

when you're asking questions.

We have, to ask, pretty normal.

We also have, to inquire, which means

you want to receive information about something.

To beg means you really want something.

You're trying to persuade this person to do something.

And we also have, to request,

which is maybe a little more polite.

Moving on to answers.

We have, to answer, pretty simple.

But an interesting one is, to acknowledge.

This means you accept something's true,

or you accept that something's good.

You accept someone's idea.

We also have, to reply, to explain.

They're fairly simple as well.

But a really good one is, to retort,

which is to reply sharply, almost with a bit of attitude.

Okay, let's move on to the next part of the story.

And this includes alternatives for said

that you can use to show happiness.

When I got home to see my parents, Richard and Kim,

I was so happy.

"I got the job!" I rejoiced.

"I knew that landlady was completely nuts!"

joked my dad.

"You can't say that, Richard!" laughed my mum.

"Nuts or not, I'm officially employed!" I giggled.

"You can start paying rent now!" smirked my dad.

"Jokes aside, we are really proud of you," beamed my mum.

I remember this so well.

I felt so proud because I did just walk in there

and come out with a job.

I never in a million years expected that to happen.

So let's look at those alternatives more closely.

We have, to rejoice,

which means you say something sort of whilst celebrating,

you're so happy.

We have, to joke, when you're making a joke.

We have, to laugh, when someone is laughing

whilst saying something.

The same goes for giggle.

A giggle is a cheekier laugh.

If you smirk, it means you're smiling

in a sort of silly or smug way.

So my dad was pleased with his joke.

And we also say, to beam, which means to be really smiling.

Let's move on to the next category.

We've got two here.

We've got alternatives for saying things loudly

and also alternatives for saying things

in a scared or worried way.

I nervously entered the pub the following Saturday.

"What do you want?" shouted Emily,

the other waitress who was hoovering the floor.

"I'm the new waitress!" I yelled back in response.

"John, the new waitress is here!" screamed Emily

to the landlord, John.

"Nice to meet you, John," I trembled.

"How old are you?" boomed John, who clearly had a temper.

"15," I stammered.

"Why are you so young?" he exclaimed.

"I, I was just born a little late," I stuttered.

"Oh dear, John is not very happy," gulped Emily.

Right, let's take a look at the vocab.

Firstly, let's look at the loud alternatives.

We have, to shout and to yell,

which means you're using the top of your voice.

You're speaking very loudly.

We also have, to scream, which means even louder. (chuckles)

To boom is a good one.

This means you say something in a very imposing,

low but loud voice.

And we also have, to exclaim.

This means, to say something loudly,

but also showing a bit of surprise.

And I'm not kidding, they did genuinely ask me

why I was so young and I struggled

to find an answer for that.

You employed me.

Moving on to the alternatives that you can use

when you're scared.

We have, to tremble, which means you're shaking,

if you're trembling.

We also have, to stammer and to stutter,

which means you're struggling to say your words.

S-s-sorry.

That was me stammering or stuttering.

The words aren't coming out smoothly.

And we also have, to gulp.

And this comes from when you go, (gulps)

you know, when you're scared of something, you swallow.

It's a good way to show that someone's worried

about somebody's reaction or something that might happen.

Okay, now we can move onto the next group of words, anger.

This is a fun one.

So John and Linda, the landlord and the landlady,

were a very passionate couple.

They fought like cats and dogs,

but they loved each other very much.

Here's an example of the first interaction

that I heard between them on my first day.

"Where have you left the bottle opener?" demanded John.

"How should I know?" snapped Linda.

"You were the last one to use it!" he thundered.

"No I wasn't.

"You had a drink after closing yesterday!" she fumed.

"Well, you must have moved it!" he barked.

"I swear I haven't touched it!" she hissed.

"Whatever.

"I've just found it," he grunted.

"Every time!" she ranted.

Oh, those were fun to do. (chuckles)

So there are eight here.

It turns out there are lots of ways to show

anger and annoyance.

So to demand is to ask, but in an angry or insistent way.

To snap is to say something in a quick or hurried way,

normally with a negative attitude.

So Linda said, "How should I know?"

really quickly and nastily.

We have, to thunder.

That's to say something very loudly and imposingly.

To fume is to really show your anger

whilst saying something.

To bark, well it comes from the sound a dog makes.

They bark.

And it's to say something like that, very loudly

and maybe a bit aggressively.

To hiss.

This is a good one.

This is when you're trying to hold in your anger.

"I said, I didn't do it."

You maybe keep your mouth quite closed.

To grunt.

That's when you say something gruffly without much effort.

"Whatever, I've found it."

It comes from the sound of pig makes.

You know, like (grunts).

I can't believe I've just done that on camera.

Similar to that, it's definitely a negative term.

And then we have, to rant, which is like to nag.

You've done this and this, you haven't done this.

It's to moan at someone.

Okay, onto the next one.

I have combined saying things in a bossy way

and saying things quietly.

The waitress, Emily, made it quite obvious

that she didn't want me to be there.

She made me do all of the rubbish jobs

so I was hardly able to leave the kitchen.

It was quite ironic as she had a terrible attitude

and most of the customers hated her,

but she insisted on doing all of the serving work.

I had to stay in the kitchen.

"To start today, you need

"to clean the toilet," she commanded.

"Not a problem," I mumbled.

"Then you can finish the washing up

"that I didn't do last night," she ordered.

"Okey dokey," I muttered.

"After that, you have to polish all of the knives

"in the cutlery drawer,

"whilst I go and serve the customers," she dictated.

"Shouldn't I learn

"how to serve the customers too?" I whispered.

"I'm the only person qualified

"to talk to the customers," she insisted.

Honestly, I don't have many negative things

to say about people, but Emily,

I've given everyone fake names,

was the least pleasant person

I may have ever met in my life.

She was so rude to people, not just to me.

I wasn't the only one here.

So let's look at the bossy alternatives.

We have, to command, to order, to dictate.

These are all alternatives for telling someone what to do.

We also have, to insist, and this is to really emphasise

that you want someone to do something.

And then we have the quiet alternatives.

We have, to mumble, and to mumble is to say something

not so clearly, quietly and clearly

so that maybe the other person can't hear you so well.

We also have, to mutter, which is to say something

kind of intending that the other person doesn't hear it.

And we also have, to whisper,

which means to say things without using your voice.

Okay, let's move on to the final part of the story.

We have words that you can use to show that someone's sad

or words that you can use to show

that you are comforting someone.

During my break, I called my mum to vent to her about Emily.

To vent is to let everything out.

Just let all of your emotions out.

"Mum, I am having a terrible time!" I cried.

"Oh no, what's gone wrong?" she groaned.

"Emily is making it obvious

"that she doesn't want me there!" I bawled.

"Oh I can't stand that woman.

"She is so unprofessional," reassured my mother.

"She's making my time here very unpleasant!" I sobbed.

"I'm sure the landlady will see her for who she is

"very soon," she consoled.

"I don't think she will.

"She loves her!" I whined.

Okay, so let's look at the ones expressing sadness.

We've got three that show that you are crying.

To cry, to bawl, which means really crying

and to sob, which means that you're crying,

but you're sort of struggling to catch your breath.

(sobs) Like that. (chuckles)

Then we have two that can be used for moaning.

We have, to groan.

To groan is to make the sound (groans) like that.

So if you groan a sentence,

(groans) "I don't want to," she groaned, for example.

And we also have, to whine.

To whine is to complain about something.

So when I said that last sentence,

"I don't think she will," I was whining.

Then we have the last two, to comfort.

To reassure and to console.

Both of these are used to show that someone

is saying something to try and make

another person feel better.

So we've had our 50 alternatives.

What was the outcome for Emily?

And what was the outcome for me?

Well I was 15 then and I carried on working in that pub

for, I was about to say 18 years, that's not true,

for three years until I was 18

and it was a fantastic weekend job

and I have definitely dramatised the landlords a bit.

They were lovely.

Emily, however, I have not dramatised.

She was horrible. (chuckles)

And she actually got fired or did she walk out?

I can't remember but there was a big argument

and the workplace was much more pleasant

when she wasn't there.

I think she would be great at a job

that doesn't involve people, potentially.

Maybe she could be a dog walker.

Right, that's it for this lesson.

If you want more information on all of the vocabulary,

you can download my free PDF.

The link is in the description box.

Also don't forget to sign up for, italki.

You can claim your $10 worth of italki credits

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If you would like further listening practise,

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I will see you soon for another lesson.

(blows kiss)

(upbeat music)