GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

PAGE 349
266 Tell, say and ask
3 A few verbs of reporting always have an indirect object.
No one told me you were leaving.
We informed everyone that the time had been changed.
These verbs are tell, inform, remind, notify, persuade, convince and reassure.
Some verbs of reporting take an indirect object and a to-infinitive.
The police ordered the men to lie down. • 270
4 With direct speech we can sometimes invert the verb of reporting and the subject.
This happens mainly in literary English, for example in stories and novels.
'Nice to see you,' Phil said/said Phil.
'I'm afraid not,' the woman replied/replied the woman.
We can do this with most verbs of reporting, but not with tell.
We cannot put a personal pronoun (e.g. he, she) after the verb.
'Nice to see you,' he said.
5 We can also use nouns such as announcement, opinion, remark, reply, statement.
For noun + that-clause, • 262(7).
The statement that no action would be taken was met with disbelief.
We can also use sure and certain.
Polly is sure we'll enjoy the show.
266 Tell, say and ask
1 We normally use an indirect object after tell but not after say.
Celia told me she's fed up. NOT Celia told she's fed up.
Andy told me all the latest news.
Celia said she's fed up. NOT Celia said me she's fed up
Dave never says anything. He's very quiet.
We can use ask with or without an indirect object.
I asked (Celia) if there was anything wrong.
For tell and ask in indirect orders and requests, • 270(1).
We told/asked Celia to hurry up.
NOTE
a We can use a that-clause or a wh-clause.
Celia told me (that) she's fed up/said (that) she's fed up.
Celia told me what's wrong.
Say + wh-clause is more common in negatives or questions, where the information
is not actually reported.
Celia didn't tell me/didn't say what was wrong.
Did your brother tell you/say where he was going?
b Compare ask and say in direct and indirect speech.
'What time is it?' he asked/said. He asked what time it was.
'The time is...,' he said. He said what time it was.
c We can use tell + indirect object + about.
Debbie told us about her new boy-friend.
With talk about there is no indirect object.
Debbie talked about her new boy-friend.
We use say with about only if the information is not actually reported.
What did she tell you/say about her new boy-friend?
No one has told us anything/said anything about the arrangements.