Say or tell?

Say or tell?

When you say something, you speak words. If you tell someone something, you give them information.

Most learners understand the difference between these two verbs as grammatical. Tell is followed by a direct object while say may be used alone, with that or with to+object.

Study attentively the following example: I only told the truth to the press when the single was released as it seemed the perfect time to do it… Here the second object takes to. And the difference is semantic (it means «give information»)

Fill in say or tell in their forms.

1.     ‘I’m sorry,’ he ***…
2.     He *** the news to everybody he saw.
3.     She *** they were very impressed…
4.     Will you *** me a story?
5.     Forty-one people are *** to have been seriously hurt…
6.     He *** everybody he saw the news.
7.     I packed and *** goodbye to Charlie…
8.     He *** his story to The Sunday Times and produced photographs…
9.     I hope you didn’t *** anything about Gretchen…
10. Did he *** where he was going?…
11. Don’t believe anything he ***.
12. A spokesman *** that the company had improved its safety standards.
13. Did she *** what happened?
14. Her voice breaking with emotion, she *** him: ‘It doesn’t seem fair’.
15. She *** nothing to me about it.
16. In the evening I returned to *** Phyllis our relationship was over…
17. I called Andie to *** her how spectacular the stuff looked…
18. Claire had made me promise to *** her the truth…
19. His friends *** he was always quick to *** a joke…
20. *** us about your moment on the summit…

Данные материалы могут быть использованы для подготовки к централизованному тестированию по английскому языку.