Say or tell?

These two verbs have similar meanings, but they are not always used in the same way.
The main difference between them is the order of the complements after the verbs:
Say something to someone
          D.O.               I.O.
Tell someone something
          I.O.           D.O.
So, say is usually followed by the direct object, while tell needs an indirect object first.

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Say and tell are both used in direct and indirect speech, but we must point out a few things:

• In direct speech, say can introduce statements, exclamations and questions, tell can only introduce statements. Inversion of say and noun subject is possible when it follows the statement. Mary said: “What a beautiful morning!”. “What a beautiful morning!”, said Mary. (Notice the subject-verb inversion). However, there is no inversion with tell.
• In indirect speech, both say and tell can be used in statements, but not in questions. Other verbs such as ask, inquire, wonder or want to know can be used. “Where do you live?” He asked me where I lived.
• In reported commands, requests or advice, we can use tell, but say is not possible.

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Charlie said: “Go home, Snoopy”. Charlie told Snoopy to go home.
If you need more information about indirect or reported speech, have a look at this blog entry.

There are expressions in which these two verbs are not interchangeable. These are collocations and they must be learnt by heart:

SAY	TELL
yes	the truth
no	a lie
something	a joke
a prayer	the time
a word	a story
hello	a secret
goodbye	the difference

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Idioms with say and tell:

• Kiss and tell: to talk on television, in a newspaper etc. about a sexual relationship you have had with a famous person, especially in order to get a lot of money. The singer's ex-girlfriend was paid £20,000 by a tabloid newspaper to kiss and tell.

• Before you can say Jack Robinson: almost immediately. I’ll be there before you can say Jack Robinson.
• Never say never: anything can happen, all the options are possible. He says he doesn’t want to run for president, but never say never...
• Time will tell: something will become known in the course of time. Who knows what the future will bring? Only time will tell.

In the following song, Justin Bieber says he wants to start a relationship with a girl, but he is a bit reluctant because he doesn’t know if she is going to tell everybody about it. So, he asks her if she is going to kiss and tell.

Finally, here are some exercises to practise what we have learnt today:
Say or tell? Multiple choice.
Say, tell or ask?
Reporting commands

Reported speech

If I had to tell someone what Homer’s friend is saying, I would have two options:

1. I could use the same words: He asked: “Do you want another beer?”.
2. I could convey just the meaning and not the exact words: He asked Homer if he wanted another beer.

In the first example, I would be using direct speech, while in the second example I would be using indirect or reported speech.
As you can see, in direct speech we have to use quotation marks (“ ") to note that we are using the exact words the person said. In indirect speech these inverted commas are not used, and other changes take place. But, what are these changes?

• Tenses. When the reporting verb is in the past, the verbs in the sentence usually change to a “more past” tense, because the speaker uttered the sentence in the past. Sue said: “I have finished my homework” changes to Sue said that she had finished her homework”. However, when the reporting verb is present, the tenses used are the same as those in the speaker’s original words. For example, imagine that you are translating what another person is saying:  “I don’t speak Spanish” changes to She says she doesn’t speak Spanish.

• Pronouns and possessives. It’s easy to understand that if you are reporting what another person says, all the pronouns referring to the first and second person should be changed. Peter asked me: “Do you understand me?”. Peter asked me if I understood him.

• Time and place expressions. The contexts in which a sentence is uttered and then reported can change enormously, so the words related to time and place should be changed accordingly. Imagine a phone conversation between a father and a son who is staying abroad in an exchange programme. The boy says: “I don’t like it here. I want to go home tomorrow”. A few days later, a friend asks the father about the son and he reports  the conversation: He said that he didn’t like it there and he wanted to come home the next day. Notice also that the verb go has changed to come because the context in which the words were spoken has changed.

 

When reporting questions we have to take into account other changes apart from the ones previously stated:

1. The order of the words is different: the auxiliary verb, if used, follows the subject. That is, there is no inversion.
2. Do/ does / did are not used.
3. Question marks (?) are not used either.
4. Yes/no questions are introduced by if or whether. Sue asked: “Do you like spagetti?” changes to Sue asked if I liked spaghetti.
5. Wh-questions keep the interrogative word. Paul asked Mary: “Where will you go on holiday?” changes to Paul asked Mary where she would go on holiday.

Orders, requests and advice are reported by using an infinitive. The teacher said: “Be quiet” changes to The teacher told the students to be quiet.

The verb suggest can either be followed by a gerund or a that-construction: “Let’s go to to cinema tonight”, suggested George can be changed to George suggested going to the cinema that night or George suggested that we (should) go to the cinema that night. Notice that the verb should can be omitted with no change of meaning.

The reporting verbs most widely used are say and tell. The difference in using one or the other is that tell must be followed by the indirect object, that is, the person to whom something is told, whereas say is usually followed by the direct object, that is, the thing that is said. When the indirect object follows say, it must be introduced by the preposition to. Notice the structure:
Say something to someone.
          D.O.         I.O.
Tell someone something.
          I.O.            D.O.
Apart from these, there are many other verbs that can introduce reported speech, such as advise, apologize, explain, command, etc, but they deserve another blog post, as each one of them has its own pattern.

In the following presentation you can find a complete list of the usual changes in reported speech. Then you can do the exercises provided to check how much you have learnt.  

EXERCISES:
How much do you know about the reported speech?
Reported questions
Reported commands and suggestions
Reported speech exercise: all kinds.