Say vs. Tell

Most English language learners confuse them at least once in their learning process. I wonder, have you? Well, I'm here to teach you all about them.

What Is Their Main Difference?

Both are transitive verbs that report speech. However, 'say' is more objective and focuses on the action of actually reporting what was being said before, while, 'tell' is more subjective and is mostly used when we want to narrate something. It can be a joke, a story, etc.

Differences

'Tell' is a ditransitive verb which means that it needs two objects in order to be complete. When we use 'tell', we must point 'to whom'. So, it becomes more subjective and it is mainly used for narrating stories, lies, jokes, etc. Take a look at the examples below:

Let me tell you a story of when I was a kid.

For how long have you been telling lies to yourself?

'Say', on the other hand, is a monotransitive verb. In a sense, it is more objective and the audience we report the speech to is not important. The speech is important and it mostly deals with facts, rather than stories. Check out the following examples:

And the boy finally opened his mouth, but said nothing.

He said: 'Screw you all' and left the room.

Similarities

As stated above, they both deal with reporting speech. Take a look below:

And then I said: 'OMG! Just listen to his voice.'

I'd rather you tell me the truth this instant.

Are They Interchangeable?

Although they both report speech, they can never be used interchangeably because they are grammatically different. Also, if you remember, they are used differently. Compare:

✓ He closed the book and told me to stay out of trouble.

X He closed the book and said me to stay out of trouble.

Comments

(0)

Share on :