Question

Which of the following speech tags is most effective in most cases

Answer 1

You didn't list any, but he said/she said and he asked/she asked are the most common. The effectiveness of speech tags has more to do with how they are used rather than what tags are used. For example, "he said" is just as effective as "he stated" as long as the tags are used when they are needed.

The speech tag's main function is to alert the reader to who it is that is speaking, but speech tags also function to allow the writer to control pacing and timing or to allow some other action to occur at the same time as the speech. "Die!" John exclaimed as he hit the mannequin over the head with the baseball bat.