Said is Dead, Baby

Conventional writing wisdom dictates we stick with 'said' for attributions. I don't know about you, but I get a little sick of 'said'.

Props to The Writer's Beat for a useful page which I stumbled upon recently, entitled '200 Words Instead of 'Said''.   I borrowed the idea, rearranged them alphabetically, pruned a few that made no sense and replaced them with a few of my own so that we stick to the 200 number.

The highlights are mine - these are words I would definitely consider using instead of 'said'. Some of these may not be perfect as attributions, but work great as a set-up. For example, I probably wouldn't ever use 'yawned' as an attribution like this:

"What time is it?" Shelby yawned.

but I would consider this:

Shelby yawned. "What time is it?"

So here they are. Any additions?

200 Words To Use Instead of 'Said'

abnegated	added	advised	agreed	allowed
announced	answered	apologized	argued	asked
assented	assessed	assured
bandied	barked	bawled	began	begged
bellowed	bit	blasted	blathered	bleated
blurted	blustered	boasted	breathed	burbled
cackled	called	carped	caterwauled	challenged
chanted	chatted	chewed	chirped	chirruped
chuckles	coaxed	communicated	commanded	complained
concluded	confessed	continued	countered	countermanded
cowered	cried	cursed	cussed
decided	declared	deliberated	delivered	demanded
denied	disagreed	drawled	dribbled	dripped
egged on	elocuted	encouraged	exaggerated	exclaimed
faulted	finished	flirted	fretted
gasped	giggled	gloated	goggled	grimaced
griped	grizzled	groaned	grumbled	grunted
gurgled
harped	hesitated	hinted	hissed	howled
hollered	hounded	huffed
implied	implored	informed	inquired	insisted
interrupted	insinuated	intoned
joked
lamented	laughed	lectured	lied
mewed	mimicked	moaned	mourned	mumbled
murmured	muttered
nagged	nattered	negated
objected	observed	offered	ogled	oozed
ordered
persisted	pestered	pleaded	pondered	prattled
prayed	proclaimed	prodded	promised	pronounced
proposed	protested
queried	questioned
rasped	rattled on	recalled	reflected	related
remarked	remembered	reminisced	repeated	replied
responded	riposted	roared	roasted	rumbled
sang	scolded	screamed	shouted	shrieked
simpered	slurred	snapped	snarled	sneered
sobbed	spelled out	spluttered	spoke	sputtered
squeaked	squealed	stammered	started	stuttered
sulked	swore
teased	tempted	threatened	thought	tittered
toasted	told	tormented	twittered
urged	uttered
wailed	warbled	warned	went on	wept
wheezed	wished	whimpered	whined	whispered
wondered	wooed
yawned	yelled

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