Grammar Corner
‘Tell’, ‘Say’ or 'Talk' – By Professor Mayfair
Hello Professor Mayfair. My name is Xiao Peng and I’m from China. Can you tell me the difference between ‘tell’, ‘say’ and 'talk'?
Hello Xiao Peng, this is a common problem for students, but take a look at this:
| Type of clause | Example | ||
| He told me | -that | that I could go home | |
| -question word | how I can get a job | ||
| -infinitive | to work harder | ||
| -question word+infinitive | where to go | ||
| -noun phrase | the truth | ||
| He said | -‘to’ + object + (that) | to John (that) he was ill | |
| -(that) + clause | (that) she was at home | ||
| -‘something’ to someone | ‘sorry’ to her | ||
N.B. Do not say - He said me…
‘Say’ and ‘tell’ are used to report someone’s speech. ‘Say’ is used more to give exact information about what someone said and is much more commonly used. ‘Tell’ is used to instruct, inform or order.
For example:
‘Hello’.
-He said ‘hello’ to me.
Here, we cannot say:
He told me ‘hello’
Also, we use ‘tell’ more commonly when we want to draw attention to who told who. For example:
He told Jane that….
But we can say:
He said to Jane that…
‘Say’ takes an object whereas ‘talk’ is used without an object. For example, you could instruct someone:
1. ‘Talk!’ but
2. ‘Say something!’
EXCEPTION!
‘Talk’ can be used informally with an object to insult the speaker and suggest that they have no knowledge of the topic, for example,
1. ‘You’re talking rubbish!’
Both can take an indirect object, with the preposition ‘to’. ‘Talk’ can also take the more American English preposition ‘with’.
The semantic difference:
‘Say’ suggests a specific word or phrase said by one person or a group of like-minded people, whereas ‘talk’ implies a general conversation between two or more people. An exception to this is when ‘talk’ is used as a noun, and it means an educational lecture, e.g.:
1. ‘He gave a talk about global warming.’
’Talk’ is used about a general topic, and therefore cannot be used to report specific indirect speech. For example:
1. She said that it would be cloudy the next day.
2. She talked about the weather.
‘Talk’ is usually used specifically in reference to speech. ‘Say’, in contrast, can be used about communication more generally, for example:
1. ‘The newspapers say that the debt could run into millions’. Here, the information is not actually passed orally.
Test yourself with the following examples, is it a form of ‘say’ or ‘talk’?:
1. How do you ____ ‘table’ in Spanish?
2. Can I ____ to you about it later?
3. She ____ to me that she couldn’t come.
4. ______ to friends is fun!
Now do the following exercise. Use ‘say’ or ‘tell’.
1. He__________to me (that) he was not coming.
2. She__________’bye’ to me.
3. She__________me (that) he wasn’t Italian.
4. He___________her where she could bye the book.
5. She__________(that) they worked too much.
6. He__________her a story.
