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Say - Tell - Speak Differences

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12 views8 pages

Say - Tell - Speak Differences

Uploaded by

marta.riquelme
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Teacher Marta Carolina Riquelme

How To Use Say, Tell, Speak And


Talk

How to use SAY


 I say – He/She/It says – We/They say
 I will say – I am saying – I said – I have said

 When we use ‘say’, we do not use an object (e.g. me/them/you) immediately after the verb. The
verb ‘say’ is used when we quote people directly and also when we give instructions. For example:

 ‘Amelia said she would be back soon.’


 ‘The weatherman said it would rain today.’
 ‘I won’t say this again! – Will you please get ready for school now?’
 Say can also be used to express an opinion or thought, as in: ‘I say we should give each person
twenty tickets to sell.’
Say / Said
With say (present) or said (past), we can use these structures:

say (something)
say that (something)
say (something) to (a person)
“(something)” a person said
Examples:

Francis says she doesn’t like chocolate.

I said that the new website design was great.

What did the teacher say to you when you failed the test?

“Nice to meet you,” Harry said.


HOW TO USE
TELL
The verb tell is used when speaking directly to a person so it
follows an object in a sentence. Tell also frequently focuses on
specific information or details about something.

 The teacher told her students to study


 Tell means “to give information to a person” – so tell (present) and told (past) are
always followed by a person.
 Jeff told me he likes juice

 Tell me about the movie. Did you like it?


 Peter, I told you not to eat any cookies before dinner!
HOW TO USE SPEAK

 Used in more formal, authoritative situations. It is used in more general terms, not as
specific as tell and say. It is also used when referring to languages and when referring
to giving a speech to a large crowd:

 Sam speaks English very well


 Dr. Phillips will speak at the conference next week
 We use the verb ‘talk’ when we are in a more relaxed setting or when we are among
friends in a conversational situation. You can think of ‘talk’ as a slightly more formal
word for ‘chat’. For example:
 We talked about the party yesterday.
 I want to talk to you about your job

 In the case of speak with (someone) and speak to (someone), you can also
say talk to or talk with.

 However, you can’t use “talk” with languages:

 I don’t talk Chinese.


 I don’t speak Chinese
WAYS TO USE SPEAK VS TALK

They are interchangeable with each other depending on the formality of

the speech. Speak is more formal and talk is less formal. Both use the

prepositions with, about, or to.

I want to talk with your mom

He wants to speak to your manager

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