SAY and TELL

SAY or TELL

We use say and tell in different ways in reported speech. Say focuses on the words someone said and tell focuses more on the content or message of what someone said:

‘Hello,’ she said.                  Not: ‘Hello,’ she told.

She told him they were going on holiday. (The focus is on the information.)

We use say with direct speech.

He said, ‘I’m not paying £50 for that.’

Using objects

1.      With tell, we say who is told.

·         He told me that he liked playing tennis – correct

2.      With say, if we want to use a personal object, to is used.

·         He said to them that he would be late.

However, we use tell without an indirect object with words such as the truth, a lie, a joke, a story, the time the difference:

You should never tell a lie.                       Not: … say a lie.

Come on Kevin. You’re good at telling jokes.

Say does not take an indirect object. Instead, we use a phrase with to:

And then she said to me, ‘I’m your cousin. We’ve never met before.’

Not: And then she said me …

COLLOCATIONS

TELL	SAY
Time Truth/ lie Difference Joke Future Secret	Hello Something Goodnight A few words So A prayer

Tell + indirect object + to-infinitive

We use tell with an indirect object and a to-infinitive for commands or instructions.

They told us to come back the next day.

Not: They said us to come …

They told her to wait till the doctor arrived.

For further explanation click  HERE  and  HERE 

For practice and exercises click  HERE  and  HERE

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