COMM Communication verbs
Definition
Verbs of speech and communication: say, tell, ask, write, explain, speak, answer, etc.
Detection Rules
mfte
cql[word={words} & pos="VB.*"]
Word list (307 items)
accuse
accused
accuses
accusing
acknowledge
acknowledged
acknowledges
acknowledging
address
addressed
addresses
addressing
admit
admits
admitted
admitting
advise
advised
advises
advising
agree
agreed
agreeing
agrees
announce
announced
announces
announcing
answer
answered
answering
answers
appeal
appealed
appealing
appeals
argue
argued
argues
arguing
ask
asked
asking
asks
assert
asserted
asserting
asserts
assure
assured
assures
assuring
beg
begged
begging
begs
call
called
calling
calls
challenge
challenged
challenges
challenging
claim
claimed
claiming
claims
command
commanded
commanding
commands
complain
complained
complaining
complains
confide
confided
confides
confiding
consult
consulted
consulting
consults
convince
convinced
convinces
convincing
declare
declared
declares
declaring
demand
demanded
demanding
demands
denied
denies
deny
denying
describe
described
describes
describing
disagree
disagreed
disagreeing
disagrees
discuss
discussed
discusses
discussing
emphasise
emphasised
emphasises
emphasising
emphasize
emphasized
emphasizes
emphasizing
encourage
encouraged
encourages
encouraging
excuse
excused
excuses
excusing
explain
explained
explaining
explains
express
expressed
expresses
expressing
inform
informed
informing
informs
insist
insisted
insisting
insists
invite
invited
invites
inviting
mean
meaning
means
meant
mention
mentioned
mentioning
mentions
object
objected
objects
offer
offered
offering
offers
persuade
persuaded
persuades
persuading
phone
phoned
phones
phoning
plead
pleaded
pleading
pleads
pledge
pledged
pledges
pledging
pray
prayed
praying
prays
promise
promised
promises
promising
propose
proposed
proposes
proposing
question
questioned
questioning
questions
quote
quoted
quotes
quoting
recommend
recommended
recommending
recommends
remark
remarked
remarking
remarks
replied
replies
reply
replying
report
reported
reporting
reports
respond
responded
responding
responds
said
sang
say
saying
says
shout
shouted
shouting
shouts
sign
signed
signing
signs
sing
singing
sings
speak
speaking
speaks
specified
specifies
specify
specifying
spoke
spoken
state
stated
states
stating
suggest
suggested
suggesting
suggests
sung
swear
swearing
swears
swore
sworn
talk
talked
talking
talks
taught
teach
teaches
teaching
tell
telling
tells
testified
testifies
testify
testifying
thank
thanked
thanking
thanks
threaten
threatened
threatening
threatens
told
urge
urged
urges
urging
vow
vowed
vowing
vows
warn
warned
warning
warns
welcome
welcomed
welcomes
welcoming
whisper
whispered
whispering
whispers
write
writes
writing
written
wrote
pybiber
cql[word={words} & pos="VB.*"]
Word list (213 items)
acknowledge
acknowledged
acknowledges
acknowledging
add
added
adding
adds
admit
admits
admitted
admitting
affirm
affirmed
affirming
affirms
agree
agreed
agreeing
agrees
allege
alleged
alleges
alleging
announce
announced
announces
announcing
argue
argued
argues
arguing
assert
asserted
asserting
asserts
bet
bets
betting
boast
boasted
boasting
boasts
certified
certifies
certify
certifying
claim
claimed
claiming
claims
comment
commented
commenting
comments
complain
complained
complaining
complains
concede
conceded
concedes
conceding
confess
confessed
confesses
confessing
confide
confided
confides
confiding
confirm
confirmed
confirming
confirms
contend
contended
contending
contends
convey
conveyed
conveying
conveys
declare
declared
declares
declaring
denied
denies
deny
denying
disclose
disclosed
discloses
disclosing
exclaim
exclaimed
exclaiming
exclaims
explain
explained
explaining
explains
forecast
forecasted
forecasting
forecasts
foretell
foretelling
foretells
foretold
guarantee
guaranteed
guaranteeing
guarantees
hint
hinted
hinting
hints
insist
insisted
insisting
insists
maintain
maintained
maintaining
maintains
mention
mentioned
mentioning
mentions
object
objected
objecting
objects
predict
predicted
predicting
predicts
proclaim
proclaimed
proclaiming
proclaims
promise
promised
promises
promising
pronounce
pronounced
pronounces
pronouncing
prophesied
prophesies
prophesy
prophesying
protest
protested
protesting
protests
remark
remarked
remarking
remarks
repeat
repeated
repeating
repeats
replied
replies
reply
replying
report
reported
reporting
reports
said
say
saying
says
state
stated
states
stating
submit
submits
submitted
submitting
suggest
suggested
suggesting
suggests
swear
swearing
swears
swore
sworn
testified
testifies
testify
testifying
vow
vowed
vowing
vows
warn
warned
warning
warns
write
writes
writing
written
wrote
Normalization
Per finite_verbs
Examples
Describe it to your partner and say why.
Source: le_foll_2024
Write a list.
Source: le_foll_2024
Say what these words mean.
Source: le_foll_2024
Sources
- biber_1988 — Biber, Douglas (1988) : Variation across Speech and Writing
- mfte — Le Foll, Elen & Shakir, Muhammad (2023/2025) : Multi-Feature Tagger of English (MFTE) — Python version
- pybiber — Brown, David West & Reinhart, Alex (2026) : pybiber — Python package for linguistic feature extraction and Multi-Dimensional Analysis
- xiao_2009 — Xiao, Richard (2009) : Multidimensional analysis and the study of world Englishes
- grieve_2023 — Grieve, Jack (2023) : Register variation explains stylometric authorship analysis
- bohmann_2019 — Bohmann, Axel (2019) : Variation in English Worldwide: Varieties and Genres in a Quantitative Perspective
Notes
Biber’s “public verbs” (tell, say, explain) maps closely to MFTE’s communication verbs.