English
Tiếng Việt
How to distinguish four common words in English: SAY, TELL, TALK and SPEAK
Posted date 07/03/2016
1.893 view
Posted date 07/03/2016
1.893 view
Share:
In English, there are many words that have the same meaning but cannot be used interchangeably, and distinguishing these words is difficult for many students, especially in multiple choice questions in the English exam when the exam gives 4 answers that are similar in meaning.
Nguyen Thi Hoa – Lecturer, Faculty of Foreign Languages
In English, there are many words that have the same meaning but cannot be used interchangeably and distinguishing these words is also difficult for many students, especially in multiple choice questions in the English exam when the exam gives 4 answers that are similar in meaning. So which word should you choose? Therefore, it is extremely important to clearly distinguish how to use words with similar meanings in each context. In this article, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - lecturer of the Faculty of Foreign Languages will help students distinguish 4 common words in English: say, tell, talk and speak.
1. First is the word “ SAY ”, many people often use this word with the preposition “with”, but “say” only goes with one preposition, “to”.
| Eg: | He told me that he would be late. |
| He told me that he would be late. |
If you want to sound like a native speaker, when you use “say”, you are not referring to the listener. So it would be better if you said:
| He said that he would be late. |
2. The second is the word " TELL ", Vietnamese people often make mistakes when encountering this word as follows:
He told me that he would be late. | |
He told that he would be late. |
- To use this word correctly, we should remember to mention the listener and not use a preposition. So the above sentence would be correctly said
| He told me that he would be late. |
- Besides, the above sentence sounds better than the sentence with "say"
| He told me that he would be late. |
So, when we want to refer to the speaker, the listener and the information the speaker gives, we should use “tell”.
| Eg: | I want to tell you a secret. |
| Le Roi told me Kenny Sang's real name. | |
| Did Ho Ngoc Ha tell you her phone number? |
- There is one exception when using “tell” that we should remember: when there is the complement “a story”, you may not mention the listener.
| Eg: | He told a story . |
3. Common mistakes Vietnamese people make when using the word " TALK " are:
| Eg: | He talked to me that he would be late. |
- “Talk” is used to describe two people talking to each other about a general topic and never used to report specific words.
| Eg: | We talked about football. |
| They talked about Son Tung's best songs. | |
| Can I talk to you about Hanoi's girl? |
- Here you can distinguish: "say" and "tell" are used to accurately report what the speaker said, while "talk" is used to talk about a general topic.
- In addition, we also use “talk” to mean “speaking”.
| Eg: | He doesn't talk much. (He is quiet) |
| My students talk too much . (My students talk too much.) |
- In most cases, “talk” can be used with the prepositions “with” and “to”
| Eg: | I like talking to you. |
| I like talking with you. |
4. We can use “ SPEAK ” like “ TALK” but in serious cases.
| Eg: | Tan Dung spoke with Vladimir Putin about Fast & Furious 7 . |
- When it comes to language, we always use “speak” without using any other word.
| Eg: | He was speaking Vietnamese. |
Hopefully, with the knowledge just provided, students will confidently use them in daily English as well as in exams that have all 4 words "Say, Tell, Talk, Speak". Wishing you success on your journey to conquer English.
Latest article
View all Posts
Related articles
See all related Articles
Register for admission consultation 2025
Dai Nam University offers admissions to
36 academic programs
across a diverse range of disciplines, including Healthcare, Engineering and Technology, Economics and Business, and Social Sciences and Humanities.
Register now to secure
scholarships and tuition support worth up to 55 billion VND
scholarships and tuition support worth up to 55 billion VND
Register now to secure
scholarships and tuition support worth up to 55 billion VND
scholarships and tuition support worth up to 55 billion VND
