How to Use Verbs of Speech Say-Tell-Speak-Talk | คำอธิบายการใช้กริยา Say-Tell-Speak-Talk
How to Use Verbs of Speech Say-Tell-Speak-Talk | คำอธิบายการใช้กริยา Say-Tell-Speak-Talk.
In this lesson, you can learn about the difference between 'say', 'tell', 'speak' and 'talk'. Do you know how to use these four verbs correctly? English learners often mix them up and use the wrong verb. Let’s look at what these verbs mean in more detail, and how you can use them correctly when you speak English.You can learn:
- The difference between 'say' and 'tell'.
- Different ways to use 'tell'.
- The difference between 'talk' and 'speak'.
- How to use prepositions with verbs of speech.
- How to use verbs of speech in a sentence.
สำหรับหัวข้อนี้เรามาฟังคำอธิบายของฝรั่งเกี่ยวกับการใช้กริยา
say, tell, speak, talk เป็นกริยาที่มีการใช้ผิดกันบ่อย เนื่องจากมีความหมายใกล้เคียงกันแต่การใช้แตกต่างกันอย่างเห็นได้ชัด
วัตถุประสงค์ของหัวข้อนี้ คือ อยากให้นักศึกษามีทักษะการฟังภาษาอังกฤษ หรือ เรียนภาษาอังกฤษจากเจ้าของภาษาโดยตรง จะสามารถเข้าใจได้ชัดเจนมากขึ้น การฟังเจ้าของภาษานั้น สิ่งที่ได้คือ
1. ได้ทักษะการฟังภาษาอังกฤษ ลักษณะการออกเสียงศัพท์ สำนวนที่ถูกต้อง
2. ได้ทักษะการพูดภาษาอังกฤษ เราสามารถจำประโยคต่างๆ จากคลิปมาพูดในชีวิตประจำวันได้
3. ได้ความรู้เนื้อหาสาระภาษาอังกฤษ ที่มาจากครูที่เป็นเจ้าของภาษาโดยตรง
เหมือนกับทุกโพสท์ ผมจะลงคำบรรยายอังกฤษให้เราได้อ่านประกอบ ซึ่งจะช่วยให้เราเข้าใจการฟังภาษาอังกฤษได้เร็วขึ้น ส่วนคำแปลนั้นผมคิดว่าเราสามารถเข้าใจได้ไม่ยาก เพราะครูฝรั่งอธิบายโดยใช้ศัพท์ไม่ยาก หากมีศัพท์หรือประโยคไหนที่ยาก ผมก็จะเขียนอธิบายเพิ่มเติมไว้ตอนท้ายๆ ครับ
คำบรรยายประกอบจากคลิป
Hi, I’m Johan.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can learn about the difference
between 'say', 'tell', 'speak' and 'talk'.
Do you know how to use these four verbs correctly?
English learners often mix them up and use the wrong verb.
Let’s look at what these verbs mean in more detail, and how you can use them correctly when you speak English.
Part one:'say'.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
What does 'say' mean?
The most important point about 'say'?
You always say something.
The simplest way to use 'say' is to explain
the words that someone used: He said, “Good morning.”
They said, “Go away and never come back!”
You can also use 'say' when you explain what someone said in your own words.
"Maria said that she wants to get a new job."
"Everyone says that it’s the best restaurant in town."
You can use 'that' after 'say' in these sentences, or you can leave it out.
It makes no difference.
A common mistake with say is something like this: "She said me not to be late."
Why is this wrong?
Remember that you always say something.
The next word after 'say' can’t be the person you’re talking to.
If you want to express who you are talking to, use 'to'.
For example: "He said 'Good morning' to each person in the room."
"They said something very rude to us."
Even in these sentences, we’re still focusing on what you say.
The person you’re talking to is extra information.
It’s not the focus of the sentence.
To review, you use 'say' to talk about what someone said.
After the verb 'say', you need to explain what the person said, using the person’s exact words, or using your own words.
Next, let’s look at 'tell'.
'Tell' is a little more complicated than 'say', because it can be used in many different ways.
First, let’s look at the most important difference between 'say' and 'tell'.
Often, when we use 'tell', we tell someone.
For example: "She told me not to be late."
"They told me that I needed to buy a new phone."
"Mark told me about what happened."
Here, you can see three common ways to use 'tell'.
You can tell someone to do something.
This means you give someone a command or an order: "I told him to be here on time!"
"My manager told me to finish this by Friday."
You can use tell someone plus that—remember that 'that' is optional—plus a clause: "Emma told me that she wants to move to Italy."
"He told me that he couldn’t come because his cat was ill."
You can tell someone about something.
This means you give someone information about something.
"She told me about her trip to Thailand."
"The man told me all about the application process."
'Tell' is also used in certain phrases: Tell a story
Tell the truth
Tell a lie
Tell a secret
Except for these phrases, remember to put a person after 'tell'.
Don’t say: "He told that he was planning to ask her on a date."
"Jill told about her experiences working for an airline."
Can you see the problem?
We need to put a person after 'tell'.
You should say: "He told me that he was planning to ask her on a date."
"Jill told us about her experiences working for an airline."
Of course, you don’t have to use 'me' or 'us'.
It could be a different person, but you do need to put a person after 'tell' in these sentences.
What about 'speak'?
Like 'tell', 'speak' can be used in many different ways.
However, unlike 'say' and 'tell', 'speak' can be used without an object.
You have to say something and tell someone, but you can use 'speak' just to mean communicate with others.
For example:
"He’s really quiet.
He doesn’t speak much."
"I was so tired, I could hardly speak."
In a similar way, you can use 'speak' to mean that you deliver a speech, or a presentation, or something like that.
"I get nervous about speaking in public."
"Several people spoke during the meeting."
Again, we can use 'speak' in this way without an object or anything after the verb.
However, we can also use 'speak' in other ways.
You can speak to someone, speak about something, or even speak to someone about something.
All of these have similar meanings.
They mean to communicate with others in a more general way.
Using 'speak' in these ways is usually less specific than using 'say' or 'tell'.
For example:
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he spoke about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to speak to him about the complaints from his teachers."
In American English, 'speak with' is sometimes used instead of 'speak to'.
The meaning is the same.
When we use 'say' or 'tell', we usually focus on a specific piece of information.
'Speak' is more general.
If you speak to someone, you don’t just say one thing; you have a conversation.
Compare two sentences: "Have you told her yet?"
"Have you spoken to her yet?" Can you see the difference?
"Have you told her yet?" is about one piece of information.
The speaker wants to know if you’ve given her this information or not.
It’s a more specific question.
"Have you spoken to her yet?" is more general.
If I say this, I want to know if you’ve communicated with her, if you’ve had a conversation with her.
It’s more open, and we’re not focusing so much on what the conversation is about.
There’s one more way to use 'speak': you also use speak with languages.
For example:
"Can you speak Spanish?"
"Ed speaks really good Japanese."
Finally, let’s look at our last verb: 'talk'.
'Talk' and 'speak' can be confusing, because they are often used in the same way.
However, they are not % the same, so you need to be careful!
Let’s look at our examples with 'speak': "He’s really quiet.
He doesn’t speak much."
"I was so tired, I could hardly speak."
What do you think: could you use 'talk' instead of 'speak' in these sentences?
Yes, you could.
The meaning would be the same:
What about these?
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he spoke about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to speak to him about the complaints from his teachers."
Could you use 'talk' instead of 'speak'?
Yes, you could, and again, it wouldn’t change the meaning:
"Have you talked to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he talked about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to talk to him about the complaints from his teachers."
So what’s the difference?
First of all, 'talk' is generally more informal than 'speak'.
Look at these two:
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"Have you talked to her yet?"
Although the basic meaning is the same, there
could be a small difference in the tone.
Using 'speak' suggests you need to have a
more serious conversation with her.
Using 'talk' suggests that you just want to
chat to her about something, not necessarily something important.
Here’s another example to show this difference: "We talked while we ate.","We spoke while we ate."
The first sentence, "we talked while we ate",
suggests a friendly, social meeting.
Maybe you’re having lunch with your friend.
The second sentence, "we spoke while we ate",
suggests a more formal meeting.
Maybe you’re having a business lunch with a client or a colleague.
Another difference: we don’t use 'talk' to mean give a speech or make a presentation, like we do with 'speak'.
So, in these two sentences:
"I got nervous about speaking in public."
"Several people spoke during the meeting."
You can’t use 'talk' instead of 'speak',
because only 'speak' has the meaning of giving
a speech, a presentation, or something like that.
Actually, you could use 'talk' in these sentences,
but the meaning would change.
Can you see how?
"I get nervous about talking in public."
"Several people talked during the meeting."
"I get nervous about talking in public" means
that I feel nervous about having a conversation
with someone in a public place, even a one-to-one conversation.
Confused?
You should be—it’s a strange thing to say!
"Several people talked during the meeting" means that several people had conversations with each other during the meeting.
They weren’t making presentations or talking to the whole group.
Again, although the sentence is grammatically correct and has a clear meaning, it’s a strange thing to say.
We also don’t use 'talk' with languages.
You can’t say: "I can talk French."
You can only use 'speak'.
Part five: review.
'Say' focuses on what someone said: the exact words or the exact ideas that came out of someone’s mouth.
'Tell' focuses on giving information or commands to another person. There are also set phrases like 'tell a lie' or 'tell a story' which you have to remember.
'Speak' is more general.
It doesn’t focus on one particular sentence or one specific piece of information.
If you speak to someone, you might talk about many different topics.
'Speak' can also mean to give a speech or a presentation, or something similar.
'Talk' is similar to 'speak', and can be used in many of the same ways.
However, 'talk' is generally more informal than 'speak', and there are some uses of 'speak'
where you can’t use 'talk'.
That’s the end of the lesson.
Do you want more practice with this topic?
Check out the full version of the lesson on our website: Oxford Online English dot com.
The full lesson includes notes and a quiz to help you remember what we’ve learned about today.
Thanks very much for watching and see you
next time!
Hi, I’m Johan.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can learn about the difference
between 'say', 'tell', 'speak' and 'talk'.
Do you know how to use these four verbs correctly?
English learners often mix them up and use the wrong verb.
Let’s look at what these verbs mean in more detail, and how you can use them correctly when you speak English.
Part one:'say'.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
What does 'say' mean?
The most important point about 'say'?
You always say something.
The simplest way to use 'say' is to explain
the words that someone used: He said, “Good morning.”
They said, “Go away and never come back!”
You can also use 'say' when you explain what someone said in your own words.
"Maria said that she wants to get a new job."
"Everyone says that it’s the best restaurant in town."
You can use 'that' after 'say' in these sentences, or you can leave it out.
It makes no difference.
A common mistake with say is something like this: "She said me not to be late."
Why is this wrong?
Remember that you always say something.
The next word after 'say' can’t be the person you’re talking to.
If you want to express who you are talking to, use 'to'.
For example: "He said 'Good morning' to each person in the room."
"They said something very rude to us."
Even in these sentences, we’re still focusing on what you say.
The person you’re talking to is extra information.
It’s not the focus of the sentence.
To review, you use 'say' to talk about what someone said.
After the verb 'say', you need to explain what the person said, using the person’s exact words, or using your own words.
Next, let’s look at 'tell'.
'Tell' is a little more complicated than 'say', because it can be used in many different ways.
First, let’s look at the most important difference between 'say' and 'tell'.
Often, when we use 'tell', we tell someone.
For example: "She told me not to be late."
"They told me that I needed to buy a new phone."
"Mark told me about what happened."
Here, you can see three common ways to use 'tell'.
You can tell someone to do something.
This means you give someone a command or an order: "I told him to be here on time!"
"My manager told me to finish this by Friday."
You can use tell someone plus that—remember that 'that' is optional—plus a clause: "Emma told me that she wants to move to Italy."
"He told me that he couldn’t come because his cat was ill."
You can tell someone about something.
This means you give someone information about something.
"She told me about her trip to Thailand."
"The man told me all about the application process."
'Tell' is also used in certain phrases: Tell a story
Tell the truth
Tell a lie
Tell a secret
Except for these phrases, remember to put a person after 'tell'.
Don’t say: "He told that he was planning to ask her on a date."
"Jill told about her experiences working for an airline."
Can you see the problem?
We need to put a person after 'tell'.
You should say: "He told me that he was planning to ask her on a date."
"Jill told us about her experiences working for an airline."
Of course, you don’t have to use 'me' or 'us'.
It could be a different person, but you do need to put a person after 'tell' in these sentences.
What about 'speak'?
Like 'tell', 'speak' can be used in many different ways.
However, unlike 'say' and 'tell', 'speak' can be used without an object.
You have to say something and tell someone, but you can use 'speak' just to mean communicate with others.
For example:
"He’s really quiet.
He doesn’t speak much."
"I was so tired, I could hardly speak."
In a similar way, you can use 'speak' to mean that you deliver a speech, or a presentation, or something like that.
"I get nervous about speaking in public."
"Several people spoke during the meeting."
Again, we can use 'speak' in this way without an object or anything after the verb.
However, we can also use 'speak' in other ways.
You can speak to someone, speak about something, or even speak to someone about something.
All of these have similar meanings.
They mean to communicate with others in a more general way.
Using 'speak' in these ways is usually less specific than using 'say' or 'tell'.
For example:
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he spoke about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to speak to him about the complaints from his teachers."
In American English, 'speak with' is sometimes used instead of 'speak to'.
The meaning is the same.
When we use 'say' or 'tell', we usually focus on a specific piece of information.
'Speak' is more general.
If you speak to someone, you don’t just say one thing; you have a conversation.
Compare two sentences: "Have you told her yet?"
"Have you spoken to her yet?" Can you see the difference?
"Have you told her yet?" is about one piece of information.
The speaker wants to know if you’ve given her this information or not.
It’s a more specific question.
"Have you spoken to her yet?" is more general.
If I say this, I want to know if you’ve communicated with her, if you’ve had a conversation with her.
It’s more open, and we’re not focusing so much on what the conversation is about.
There’s one more way to use 'speak': you also use speak with languages.
For example:
"Can you speak Spanish?"
"Ed speaks really good Japanese."
Finally, let’s look at our last verb: 'talk'.
'Talk' and 'speak' can be confusing, because they are often used in the same way.
However, they are not % the same, so you need to be careful!
Let’s look at our examples with 'speak': "He’s really quiet.
He doesn’t speak much."
"I was so tired, I could hardly speak."
What do you think: could you use 'talk' instead of 'speak' in these sentences?
Yes, you could.
The meaning would be the same:
What about these?
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he spoke about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to speak to him about the complaints from his teachers."
Could you use 'talk' instead of 'speak'?
Yes, you could, and again, it wouldn’t change the meaning:
"Have you talked to her yet?"
"During his presentation, he talked about the challenges facing the company."
"We’ll have to talk to him about the complaints from his teachers."
So what’s the difference?
First of all, 'talk' is generally more informal than 'speak'.
Look at these two:
"Have you spoken to her yet?"
"Have you talked to her yet?"
Although the basic meaning is the same, there
could be a small difference in the tone.
Using 'speak' suggests you need to have a
more serious conversation with her.
Using 'talk' suggests that you just want to
chat to her about something, not necessarily something important.
Here’s another example to show this difference: "We talked while we ate.","We spoke while we ate."
The first sentence, "we talked while we ate",
suggests a friendly, social meeting.
Maybe you’re having lunch with your friend.
The second sentence, "we spoke while we ate",
suggests a more formal meeting.
Maybe you’re having a business lunch with a client or a colleague.
Another difference: we don’t use 'talk' to mean give a speech or make a presentation, like we do with 'speak'.
So, in these two sentences:
"I got nervous about speaking in public."
"Several people spoke during the meeting."
You can’t use 'talk' instead of 'speak',
because only 'speak' has the meaning of giving
a speech, a presentation, or something like that.
Actually, you could use 'talk' in these sentences,
but the meaning would change.
Can you see how?
"I get nervous about talking in public."
"Several people talked during the meeting."
"I get nervous about talking in public" means
that I feel nervous about having a conversation
with someone in a public place, even a one-to-one conversation.
Confused?
You should be—it’s a strange thing to say!
"Several people talked during the meeting" means that several people had conversations with each other during the meeting.
They weren’t making presentations or talking to the whole group.
Again, although the sentence is grammatically correct and has a clear meaning, it’s a strange thing to say.
We also don’t use 'talk' with languages.
You can’t say: "I can talk French."
You can only use 'speak'.
Part five: review.
'Say' focuses on what someone said: the exact words or the exact ideas that came out of someone’s mouth.
'Tell' focuses on giving information or commands to another person. There are also set phrases like 'tell a lie' or 'tell a story' which you have to remember.
'Speak' is more general.
It doesn’t focus on one particular sentence or one specific piece of information.
If you speak to someone, you might talk about many different topics.
'Speak' can also mean to give a speech or a presentation, or something similar.
'Talk' is similar to 'speak', and can be used in many of the same ways.
However, 'talk' is generally more informal than 'speak', and there are some uses of 'speak'
where you can’t use 'talk'.
That’s the end of the lesson.
Do you want more practice with this topic?
Check out the full version of the lesson on our website: Oxford Online English dot com.
The full lesson includes notes and a quiz to help you remember what we’ve learned about today.
Thanks very much for watching and see you
next time!
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