Verbs - Expressions with 'Talk', 'Ask' and 'Say'

This lesson focuses on common expressions and collocations using the verbs talk, ask and say. These verbs are essential for communication in business contexts: asking for information, reporting speech, and having conversations. You will learn typical patterns, prepositions and how to use each verb naturally.

• Talk — used for conversations and topics (talk to, talk with, talk about, talk shop).
• Ask — used to request information, permission or actions (ask for, ask about, ask someone to).
• Say — used to report words or opinions (say that..., say to someone).

Focus on the collocations and verb patterns for each verb:

• talk + to/with + person — talk to your colleague; talk with the client.
• talk + about + topic — talk about the agenda.
• ask + for + noun — ask for permission, ask for details.
• ask + about + topic — ask about the deadline.
• ask + someone + to + verb — ask the manager to approve.
• say + that + clause — say that the report is ready.
• say + to + person — say to the team, 'Thank you.'

When requesting actions, use 'ask someone to + verb'; when reporting speech, use 'say that...'.

Watch for these universal errors when using talk, ask and say:

• Wrong preposition: using 'talk about someone to' instead of 'talk to someone about'.
• Mixing 'say' and 'tell': 'say' usually needs a clause ('say that...') while 'tell' needs an object ('tell someone something').
• Incorrect pattern after ask: use 'ask someone to + verb' (not 'ask to someone').
• Reporting speech errors: forgetting to change tense in indirect speech when required.
• Redundancy: unnecessary additions like 'ask a question' when 'ask' alone is enough in many cases.

Check the verb pattern (preposition or object) after each verb.