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Old July 10, 2017, 08:46 AM
Henry Gale Henry Gale is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aleCcowaN View Post
Good point! I've never realized that. Thanks. Is it acceptable when the person who is told has been mentioned earlier? I've seen lots of cases like "She would not tell where she had been raised" or "... and she would not tell a single lie unless she had to" (examples taken from COCA)
I think a good substitution might help clarify some points about say/tell:

"She would not tell where she had been raised" =
  • She would not reveal (to other people, to anyone else) where she had been raised.
  • She would not explain (to other people, to anyone else) where she had been raised.

Here's another difference: "Say" implies just having words come out of your mouth. It is a pretty neutral word. On the other hand, "told" can have the sense of an order or a directive, and it always takes an object.

I said not to put the cheese on your head.
I TOLD YOU not to put the cheese on your head.

In the first example, the tone here is much milder. It could be someone recounting a conversation, as in, "Well, this afternoon, when I was talking to Bob, I said not to put the cheese on his head, but he thought he would do it anyway." In the second example, the tone is much more authoritative, as if said by a parent or boss, as in, "Bob, you know the company policy and you chose to violate it again. I TOLD YOU not to put the cheese on your head, and I really mean it."
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