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主題: 常混淆的日常動詞 Say vs Tell / Talk vs Speak
Say vs. Tell
Say can be used to mean the following:
- To give a report of someone else words (Someone said something)
- To ask how to use a different language (Say something in Chinese)
To tell can be used to mean:
- To narrate (To tell a story)
- To instruct (To tell John to buy something)
Examples:
- Did he say something about the classes?
- How do you say I love you in Spanish?
- Tell him to come here
- He is telling a good story
Speak to and talk to
Speak and talk suggest that a person is using his voice, or that two or more people are having a conversation.
We can say:
- speak to someone
- talk to someone
- speak to someone about something
- talk to someone about something.
Speak is more formal
One of the main differences is formality. Speak is a little more formal than talk, and is often used in polite requests:
- Hello, could I speak to David Thompson, please? [formal, on the telephone]
- I’ve got a complaint: I want to speak to the manager. [formal, in a restaurant or shop]
- Talk is a little less formal and is more common in spoken English:
- What on earth are you talking about? = ‘you are not making sense’ or ‘you are not being truthful’.
- I was talking to Tom yesterday. He told me about his new house and job.
小測驗時間：
請造句：
- 你對你朋友生氣 ：「我會告訴你媽媽！」
- 請告訴你的家人，你朋友說要8點半會到
- 跟你同事說 「我們兩點可不可聊聊?」
- 請對方講話大聲一點
- 叫朋友不要在跟損友聊天/講話
- 請你的小孩跟你另一半講要買牛奶回家