Say atau Tell?

Kita kembali membahas tentang “Confusing Words”. Kali ini tentang Say dan Tell. Kedua kata ini memiliki makna yang mirip. Keduanya berarti berkomunikasi secara verbal dengan seseorang. Tetapi kita sering menggunakan keduanya dengan berbeda.

Cara sederhana untuk melihat sepintas perbedaan keduanya adalah pada contoh berikut:

- You say something
- You tell someone something.

You say something	You tell someone something
Ram said that he was tired.	Ram told Jane that he was tired.
Anthony says you have a new job.	Anthony tells me you have a new job.
Tara said: “I love you.”	Tara told John that she loved him.

Tetapi, kasusnya tidak selamanya mudah. Berikut beberapa kaidah untuk membantu Anda.

Objek personal

Kita biasanya mengikuti kata tell dengan sebuah objek personal (orang yang dengannya kita berbicara). Kita biasa menggunakan say tanpa diikuti objek personal:

- She told me that she loved John.
- She said that she loved John.
- He told everybody that he had to leave.
- He said that he had to leave.

Say “to someone”

Dengan say, kita kadang-kadang menggunakan “to someone”:

- He said to me that he was tired.
- Tara said to Ram that he had done very well.
- “I’d like to sleep,” she said to him quietly.

Direct speech

Kita bisa menggunakan say dengan direct speech. Kita menggunakan tell hanya dengan direct speech yang merupakan sebuah instruksi atau informasi:

- Amanda said, “Hello John. How are you?”
- “That’s great” she said.
- He told her: “Open the door quietly.”
- She told me, “I have never been to England.”

Kita bisa menggunakan say dengan pertanyaan langsung, tetapi kita tidak dapat menggunakan tell:

- She said: “Do you love me?”
- The policeman said to the prisoner, “Where were you at 8pm?”

Reported speech

Kita bisa menggunakan say dan tell untuk berbicara tentang informasi yang dilaporkan (reported):

- She said that it was raining.
- She told me that she would call at 2pm.

Kita tidak bisa menggunakan say atau tell untuk berbicara tentang pertanyaan yang dilaporkan. Kita harus menggunakan ask (atau kata kerja serupa):

- She asked if I had ever been there.
- They asked what I wanted to eat.
- She asked where he lived.
- He asked if she wanted to go home.

Perintah, nasihat

Kita menggunakan tell + objek + infinitif untuk perintah atau nasihat:

- She told him to sit down.
- They told me not to wait.
- Tell Neil to have a holiday and forget her.

Frase

Berikut beberapa frase yang selalu digunakan dengan tell. Kita tidak dapat menggunakan say bersama dengan frase-frase ini:

- tell (someone) a story
- tell (someone) a lie
- tell (someone) the truth
- tell the future (= to know what the future will bring)
- tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

Benar dan salah

Silakan baca contoh-contoh berikut tentang penggunaan yagn benar dan yang salah:

We cannot…	Ini contoh yang tidak mungkin…	Ini contoh yang mungkin
say someone to do something	Tara said Jo to go away.	Tara told Jo to go away.
say someone something	Panita said me that she was hungry.	Panita told me that she was hungry.
tell something	He told that he likes coffee.	He said that he likes coffee.
tell to someone	Tookta told to me that she was coming.	Tookta told me that she was coming.
		Tookta said to me that she was coming.
say a lie	Siriluck always says lies.	Siriluck always tells lies.
tell somebody “direct speech” (except instructions and information)	Ram told Nok: “Let’s turn on the TV.”	Ram said to Nok: “Let’s turn on the TV.”
		(Ram told Nok, “Turn on the TV.”)
		(Ram told Nok: “I was born in 1985.”)
say or tell a reported question	She said if I wanted to come.	She asked if I wanted to come.
	Tookta told what I wanted to do.	Took asked what I wanted to do.

Untuk pemantapan, silakan kerjakan latihan yang ada disini. (Silakan isi terlebih dahulu nomor 1 sampai 20 dengan pilihan yang telah ada. Untuk melihat jawaban yagn benar, klik “click for answer” yang ada di sebelah kanan setiap soal).

Rujukan: www.englishclub.com