20/12/2016

Howtouse'say'and'tell'inreportedspeech

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Inreportedstatements,wecanuseeither'say'or'tell'.Themeaningisthesame,

TheBasics butthegrammarisdifferent.Forexample:
GrammarExercises
Infographics

Directspeech:

John:"I'llbelate".

'A'and'The'

VerbTenses Reportedspeech:
VerbPatterns

Johnsaid(that)hewouldbelate.

Questions
Adjectives
Conditionals

StativeVerbs
RelativeClauses
Prepositions

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Then

Johntoldme(that)hewasgoingtobelate.

ReportedSpeech With'tell'weNEEDtheobject(e.g.'me','you','her').
ThePassive With'say'weCAN'Tusetheobject(e.g.'me','them','us').
IrregularVerbs

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SoweCAN'Tsay:
Johnsaidmethathewouldbelate.
Johntoldthathewouldbelate.

Modals Herearesomecorrectexamples:
Gerundsand
Infinitives
Participles
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Juliesaid(that)she'dcometotheparty.
Isaid(that)Iwasgoingtobedearly.
Hetoldme(that)helovedlivinginLondon.
TheytoldJohn(that)theywouldarriveatsix.

Newsletter (Wecanalsouse'tell'inreportedorders.Inthiscase,'tell'isfollowedbyadirect
Aboutme objectand'to+infinitive':'Shetoldmetositdown'.Youcanlearnmoreabout
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thishere).

F.A.Q. Tryanexerciseaboutusing'say'and'tell'here.
Learnmoreaboutreportedspeechhere.
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