You have all been there.
You are speaking English, (yes, you!), and you are speaking it in public.
Yes. To a real person.
It can be face-to-face, on the telephone, on a Zoom call or in the worst-case scenario,
standing in front of a packed auditorium of 500 people, hanging on your every word.
Yes. That one is tough.
So, there you are, speaking. And suddenly, you want to talk about speaking.
But do you use the verb say or tell?
You have a nano-second to decide.
It’s 50-50.
You pick the right one, and you sound like a native speaker. Chi-Ching!
You pick the wrong one. You sound like a bit of an idiot. And nobody likes that.
So, let’s sort this out now. For once and for all.
TELL
Look at the following sentences:
I’m going to tell YOU how to use the verb “to tell” correctly.
He told HER that he wanted to marry her.
They told US to shut up.
Have you noticed anything? The verb to tell is always followed by a person.
Tell you
Tell her
Tell Paco and Mari Carmen
The verb to tell focuses on people, in other words on the audience who is hearing what is being said.
That is the key element of this verb.
It is often used with that or to.
I told him that I was leaving.
She told her brother to close the window.
There is no specific “message”, such as Happy Birthday! or Hello!
So, the basic thing to remember about the verb to tell is the person who is told.
SAY
Now, take a look at these sentences.
He said Happy Birthday and then he gave me my card and present.
She said Happy Christmas when she saw me.
He didn’t say anything.
Can’t you say something?
So, is the verb to say followed by a person like the verb to tell?
NO.
It is followed by a message.
The message is the key.
Who hears the message is not mentioned. Or at least, is not important.
Yes, we can also say with that, what, why etc…
I said that I was leaving.
She always said what she thought.
Did he say why he was leaving?
Notice, the verb say is NOT followed by a person.
Or is it…?
SAY + PERSON
I know!
I K-N-O-W!
You have all heard the song.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, dear (insert name),
Happy Birthday, to you.
And I’m sure you have said Happy Birthday to quite a few people during your life.
So, let me explain.
No. Not about birthdays.
About why we use say and a person together in the same sentence.
Let’s look at the popular song lyric again and add the verb to say.
He said: Happy Birthday to you
In grammar terms, the most important element in the sentence – the message or in this case Happy Birthday is the direct object. That is why it directly follows the verb. The “thing” he “says” is Happy Birthday. The person he says it to is considered not to be as important as what he says. For that reason, the person is considered to be the indirect object and has to follow a preposition. In our case, it is the preposition to.
So… I said Happy Birthday to my boss.
She said Thank you to me.
We definitely do not say
She told me thank you.
She told to me thank you.
Never.
Ever.
EVER.
EXCEPTIONS
There are some exceptions with the verb to tell.
I like to divide them into two categories.
PEOPLE ARE OPTIONAL
There are some cases where tell is not followed by a person, but we all know that there is a person “there”.
You can’t tell a lie to a table or a motorbike. (In theory).
You can tell a person a lie but you can also omit the person if you don’t want to mention them.
· I told a lie, but it was only a white lie.
· She was sick of him telling her lies.
The same is true of tell the truth.
You can tell someone the truth or omit mentioning the person without the sentence losing too much meaning.
· After several hours, he finally told the truth.
· Please, tell me the truth!
Another example is to tell a story. In most cases, you are going to tell somebody a story, but if you don’t want to mention the person you told the story to, you don’t have to:
The story he told was astonishing.
I told him the story and he was reassured.
PEOPLE ARE NOT NEEDED
to tell the future
I’m not a fortune teller, I can’t tell the future.
She used to use coffee grounds to tell the future.
to tell the time
My six-year-old son got up at 6 am today because he hasn't learned how to tell the time yet.
You can tell the time by looking at the position of the sun in the sky.
EXERCISE: Now, fill in the gaps.
1) He __________ me not to say anything until everything was confirmed.
2) He __________ nothing.
3) He __________ nothing about it to anyone.
4) Can you __________ me what he said?
5) Can you _____________ anything about it?
6) I’d rather not _____________ anything.
7) Hmmmm. I think you need to __________ something.
8) He ___________ me not to ___________ anything.
9) Okay. Don’t ________ anything.
10) She packed her bags and left but she didn’t ______ goodbye.
11) The first thing I __________ on Christmas Day is “Happy Christmas”.
12) Why didn’t you ___________ that you were hungry?
13) __________ what you ________ last night.
14) __________ them what you _________ me last night.
15) I couldn’t __________ the time when I was five years old.
16) Do I look like I can ______________ the future?
ANSWERS
1. TOLD
2. SAID
3. SAID
4. TELL
5. SAY
6. SAY
7. SAY
8. TOLD … SAY
9. SAY
10. SAY
11. SAY
12. SAY
13. SAY … SAID
14. TELL … TOLD
15. TELL
16. TELL
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