{"id":4560,"date":"2011-07-12T14:33:35","date_gmt":"2011-07-12T14:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/?p=4560"},"modified":"2018-02-28T19:49:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T00:49:14","slug":"common-errors-in-english-said-and-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Errors in English: Said and Told"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t say:<\/span> \u201cShe said me that she was happy.\u201d<\/h3>\n

Say:<\/span> \u201cShe told me that she was happy.\u201d<\/h3>\n

Or:<\/span> \u201cShe said that she was happy.\u201d<\/h3>\n

Tell<\/strong> means \u201cto give information to a person<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 so tell<\/strong> (present) and told<\/strong> (past) are always\u00a0followed by a person: me, you, him, her, us, them, John, Jane, the teacher, etc.<\/p>\n

With say<\/strong> (present) or said<\/strong> (past), we can use these structures:<\/p>\n

1. say (something)<\/strong>
\nFrances says she doesn\u2019t like chocolate.<\/p>\n

2. say that (something)<\/strong>
\nI said that the new website design was great.<\/p>\n

3. say (something) to (a person)<\/strong>
\nWhat did the teacher say to you when you failed the test?<\/p>\n

4. \u201c(something)\u201d a person said<\/strong>
\n\u201cNice to meet you,\u201d Harry said.<\/p>\n

Just remember \u2013 you say something,<\/strong> and you tell someone something!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Clear up your doubts about confusing words… and use English more confidently!<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"600+<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to learn more about this e-book<\/strong><\/a><\/center><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t say: \u201cShe said me that she was happy.\u201d Say: \u201cShe told me that she was happy.\u201d Or: \u201cShe said that she was happy.\u201d Tell means \u201cto give information to a person\u201d \u2013 so tell (present) and told (past) are always\u00a0followed by a person: me, you, him, her, us, them, John, Jane, the teacher, etc. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,7],"tags":[140,13,86],"class_list":["post-4560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-confusing-words-2","category-grammar","tag-common-errors","tag-confusing-words","tag-english-grammar"],"yoast_head":"\nCommon Errors in English: Said and Told - Espresso English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don\u2019t say: \u201cShe said me that she was happy.\u201d Say: \u201cShe told me that she was happy.\u201d Or: \u201cShe said that she was happy.\u201d Tell means \u201cto give information to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Errors in English: Said and Told\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don\u2019t say: \u201cShe said me that she was happy.\u201d Say: \u201cShe told me that she was happy.\u201d Or: \u201cShe said that she was happy.\u201d Tell means \u201cto give information to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Espresso English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-12T14:33:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-01T00:49:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/600-confusing-words-226x300.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shayna Oliveira\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shayna Oliveira\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shayna Oliveira\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/#\/schema\/person\/b92f17848e26e2ccdb617df724d13300\"},\"headline\":\"Common Errors in English: Said and Told\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-12T14:33:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-01T00:49:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\"},\"wordCount\":152,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/600-confusing-words-226x300.png\",\"keywords\":[\"common errors\",\"confusing words\",\"english grammar\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Confusing Words\",\"Grammar\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.espressoenglish.net\/common-errors-in-english-said-and-told\/\",\"name\":\"Common Errors in English: Said and Told - 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