Grammar tidbits with Anangsha

What’s the Difference Between “Say” and “Tell”?

If you get confused between the two, you’re not alone. Here’s how to never forget the distinction again.

Image supplied by the author.

As my High School English teacher used to say:

You say something. You tell someone.

Example 1

He said, ‘The earth is round.”

He told me that the earth is round.

Example 2

I heard him say that the class was canceled.

I heard him tell Arjun that the class was canceled.

Example 3

Ron made a face at Snape and said, “Poisonous toadstools don’t change their spots.”

Making a face at Snape, Ron told Hermione that poisonous toadstools don’t change their spots.

Get the drift?

It’s really as simple as that: You say something. You tell someone.

Edge cases

• You can also use tell without a personal object in few expressions, which are fixed expressions like telling the truth, telling the time, telling the difference, etc.