Study the information about general moments in reported speech.
Compare direct and indirect speech.
1. Mary said, “I am sleeping”. (direct)
2. Mary said that she was sleeping. (indirect)
Some facts about tell and say.
1. We use say without prepositions when it is not followed by the person being spoken to.
Mike said," I need some time".
Mike said (that) he needed some time.
2. We can use say with the preposition to when it is followed by the person being spoken to.
Mike said to me,“ I love swimming”.
Mike said to me (that) he loved swimming.
3. We use tell without prepositions when it is followed by the person we are talking to.
Sam told me, "I want to visit Alaska".
Sam told me (that) he wanted to visit Alaska.
We use say and tell in different ways in reported speech. Say focuses on the words someone said and tell focuses more on the content or message of what someone said.
"Hello," she said.
She told him they were going on holiday. (The focus is on the information.)
Remember some phrases with tell:
Tell the truth, tell a secret, tell a lie, tell a story, tell the time, tell the difference, tell on from another.