Complete the confused farmer's interview with the local news by choosing the correct reporting verb for each gap.

The friendly aliens asked me if I wanted a quick tour of their glowing spaceship. I said that I was much too busy milking the cows right now. Before they flew away, their leader told me to keep the visit a secret from the neighbors.

The friendly aliens asked me if I wanted a quick tour of their glowing spaceship.

We use "ask" + object + "if/whether" to report yes/no questions.

I said that I was much too busy milking the cows right now.

We use "say" + "that" clause to report a statement. We cannot use "tell" here because there is no direct object (like "told them").

Before they flew away, their leader told me to keep the visit a secret from the neighbors.

We use "tell" + object + to-infinitive to report an order or strong request. "Said" cannot be followed by an object pronoun like "me" in this way without "to" (and even then, "said to me to keep" is incorrect).