Page 115 - BASIC GRAMMAR PRACTICE

Reported speech

9
You're on the
wrong train. The ticket inspector ...

10
Can you answer
the door? My grandmother

76 say, tell

CONTRAST
• tell has a personal direct object (e.g. me, hint, her, etc. >- Exercise 79)
She told me she was going to be late.
'It's too late,' she told me.
{We cannot say: Ha told the weather was nice.)

tell is not used before questions. {We cannot say: He told me, 'Have wo
met before?')
say never has a personal direct object:
She said she was going to he late.
'It's too late,' she said.
The indirect object {to me, to her, to us, etc. Exercise 79} is used instead.
7 don't like them veiy much,' she said to me quietly.
Why did he say that to you?
There are a few special phrases in which tell does not have to take a
personal direct object:
tell the truth tell the time
tell a lie tell a story
tell lies

Practice

76a Use the correct form of say or tell in these sentences.
1 She ..told.. me she didn't agree.
2 '1 think I've met you before,' he ..said...

3 I them I wasn't happy with their work.
4 She me a story about her parents.
5 He , 'Are you feeling OK?'
6 She smiled, and to me, 'I'm very pleased to meet you.'

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