Hi there this is Harry Welcome back to advanced English lessons with Harry where I try to help
you to get a better understanding of the English language. And as you know in all of
these lessons I always ask you to send me in your contributions, or questions, or even if you have
suggestions what you would like to have included in future lessons. Well, this particular lesson
is exactly that. Hello there, Ruben. This is for you. You asked me to give you some idea through
a lesson about the difference of say, tell, speak and talk and a few other words like ask that I've
thrown in. And utter and convey. So this lesson is for all of you out there with these difficulties,
but in particular, it's been asked and requested by Ruben. Okay, so...
And if you do like this particular lesson, then please like the video,
and you can subscribe to the channel because you know, it does it really, really helps.
Okay, so it's an advanced English lesson and we're looking at different ways of the differences
between to say, to tell, to speak, and talk. Now, there are other verbs as I mentioned, to ask,
convey, and utter and I'll mention those as we go through the lesson. Okay, let's get started.
Say. Say is an irregular verb, irregular verb. And we say-said-said. There the three parts of
the verb say, said, said. Say is used with or without a personal object. For example,
Sarah said that she was tired. Sarah said that she was tired. You can also use it with them a
personal object, followed by the preposition. For example, Sarah said to me that she was tired. So
you've got two options to say it with or without the personal object. Sara said that she was tired.
In that case, it's without the personal object,. Or Sara said to me, and as our personal object me,
Sarah said to me that she was tired. So notice how we structure the sentence Sarah said that she was
tired. Or Sarah said to me that she was tired, okay? It's not Sarah say me, okay. Sara said
to me, or Sarah said that she was tired. Say can also be used when we want to express an opinion or
a thought, for example, I say that we should give each person 20 tickets so that they can sell them
and raise some money for charity. That's what I say. Okay, or we could even say, Oh, I say, what's
that over there? That looks very interesting. So we use it to raise an opinion or a view or
to get people's attention to something, Oh, I say, what's that? So you can use it in different ways.
Okay, then let's look at the verb tell, to tell. And again, we're talking about an irregular verb,
tell-told-told. So there's your three parts tell, told and told, okay. And tell is always,
always followed by a personal object. For example, She told me she was tired. Or she told me that she
was tired. You can either include or exclude that she told me she was tired, or she told me that
she was tired. The important thing is that after told, it's followed by that personal object. Me,
okay. And when we use tell, it's often used to describe when we give orders or instructions.
I told them to go to bed. So when you wanted children to get to bed early, or whenever I
told them to go to bed, I told them to go to bed after their supper. I told you to ring the doctor,
did you ring him? I told you to ring the doctor. So we're giving instructions. And
usually we're using it in not so harsh, but very, very dictatorial or strong way I told
you to ring your doctor. Why didn't you? I told the kids to go to bed. Why aren't they in bed?
Say and tell can both be used when we're talking about either direct or reported speech. For
example, she said, 'I want to leave.' So at the party, she said I want to leave. She said that
she wanted to leave. She said, 'I hate tea.' She told me she hates tea. Okay, so we can use it in
that direct and reported speech and say and tell are always interchangeable. The only thing you
have to do, you have to change the structure of the sentence to make it a little different. And
to make it grammatically accurate, of course. For example, did she tell you what happened yesterday?
So question, did she tell you what happened yesterday? Or did she say what happened yesterday?
Did she tell you what happened yesterday? Did she say what happened yesterday? The meaning is
exactly the same, the structure is slightly different. What did Jack say? What did Jack
tell you? Exactly the same. There's a different structure we want to say, or use say or tell.
Now let's look at speak. Speak again is an irregular verb. And the three
parts are different speak-spoke- spoken. I speak, he spoke, I have spoken. Speak,
spoke, spoken. And make sure you get that pronunciation speak, spoke and spoken.
Speak is used in a little bit more of a formal way and formal situations, particularly when you
want to emphasise that something is important. For example, I will speak to you later. I will
speak to you later. I will speak to management and ask them to increase our salaries. I will
speak to management and ask them to increase our salary. So a little bit more formal.
And it's also used when we're referring to languages. For example, he can speak three
languages. He can speak German, English, and Spanish. He can speak three languages.
Or indeed, if somebody is talking about making an address to a large gathering or
crowd. The senior manager will speak at the end of the conference. The senior manager
will speak at the beginning of the party, just to introduce. So welcome everybody
to this year's annual get together. Okay, so we're using it in slightly more formal way.
Talk. Talk is a regular verb, okay. So the others we've looked at areirregular,
so talk is the regular verb. And it's talk-talked. I talk, he talked. Now, remember when you're using
it in that past tense, make sure you get the correct pronunciation of that -ed ending. Talk
is going to sound talked. I talk, he talked. Okay. So make sure you pronounce that -ed ending
correctly. The same as walk-walked. Talk-talked. The sound and the ending exactly the same.
So we use talk when we're in a much more relaxed environment, or relaxed setting among friends or
family. And usually in a conversational style. Okay, you can use talk like this. I was talking
to your mom the other day, and she said you were enjoying your early college days. Yeah,
I was talking to your mom the other day. We talked all night about our favourite movies,
we talked forever. So the boy and girl meeting for the first time or the second time in their
relationship, it's... we talked forever. We we could have talked all night. Yeah,
so something a little bit more relaxed, and a little bit more friendly and inform.
And again, as we said before, speak and talk, they are interchangeable, okay. And it depends
on the formality of the speech that you're talking to. And in this situation, there's
no need to change the grammatical structure and the sentence is usually the same. For example,
I would like to speak to your manager, I would like to speak to your manager. I would like to
talk with your parents. I'd like to speak to your manager. I would like to talk with your parents.
They're not very different, okay, the structure the sentences is exactly the same. But as I said,
I would like to talk to your manager, or I'd like to speak to your parents, you know, whether I say
talk or speak, it's not going to change the meaning, the intention, or what I want to do.
Now, we can use different prepositions. Do we use 'with' or do we use 'to?' So let me give
you a couple of examples of that. When we speak TO someone, it's usually in a way, like it's one way
yeah. So if your boss is really annoyed with you. Or your parents are really annoyed with you. Or
you're really annoyed with your kids. You can use it one way, I will speak to you later. I'll speak
to you later. So you're going to have to sit there and listen to mother or father. Or you're going to
have to listen to the teacher, I'll speak to you later. So it's very much one way. And if we want
to use it in a more conversational style, where it's two way then we can use WITH. Yeah, I would
like to speak with the team and find out what they want to do. Okay, I'll speak with you all a little
later. And we can listen to whatever suggestions you have. So it's, it's more involved, okay? It's
more convivial and it's more friendly. Okay, so to speak to somebody. Maybe just one way, I'll speak
to you later. Speak with be... can be involving a few other people, and it's a two way conversation.
Now, let's move on to the verb ask, okay. To ask. And again, pronunciation here as
us get that k sound at the end to ask. So ask is used usually in indirect and reported speech when
talking about questions, okay? Somebody might say, Why do you want to leave your job? Why do
you want to leave your job? Pam asked me why I wanted to leave my job. Or my manager asked
me why I wanted to leave my job. Can you ride a bicycle? Question. Can you ride a bicycle?
Ben asked Sam if he could ride a bicycle. Ben asked Sam if he could ride a bicycle.
Could you do me a favour? He asked me to do him a favour,
he asked me to do him a favour. So we're using it there in both indirect and reported speech.
Now, you also asked about words utter and convey. Now, they're not necessarily ways of talking.
Utter is a word we use when we're given a style, okay of talking. And often it's used in
the negative context. For example, sit there and don't utter a word. So if the parents are really
annoyed with you, or they're angry, then they just tell you sit on the sofa but don't utter
a word. Don't speak until you are spoken to, in other words don't utter a word. Or he sat in the
conference all day without uttering a word, yeah. Without uttering a word. So again, using it in a
slightly negative context, it's got nothing to do with he uttered something or something was
uttered. It's not like ask or talk or speak, it's just a method or a way of talking, but as I said,
it's usually used with a negative context. Now, be very, very careful because there are other ways to
use utter. Here we're using it as a verb to utter, okay, but if it's used as an adjective, or an
adverb, it's in a completely different meaning. And you just have to be really, really careful.
So remember, here we are using it as a verb, to utter. So he sat there without uttering a sound.
Convey. Now, convey can be quite formal, and it's the definition of it is about conveying or giving
a message, okay? Please convey my gratitude to your parents for their help. Please convey my
wishes to the management. So if you're in a hotel, and you want to be very formal,
and you want to make a complaint, so please convey my wishes to the management.
If somebody has died in the family, and somebody is really paying their respects,
they might use an expression like, I would like to convey my condolences. I'd like you to convey
my condolences to your family and really sad to hear about your loss. So it's all about giving or
transporting something, in this case, a message giving a message from one person to another,
in a more formal way. Okay? So we always convey messages. We convey our wishes,
and we can convey our condolences. Okay, so that's utter and convey.
Okay, so hopefully, Ruben that's covered those points, I hope you understand them. As always,
please practice. And if you have any more problems or difficulties, come back to me and I'll give
you a few more suggestions and a few more ideas. Okay. So as always try to practice and remember,
practice, practice, practice, because that's the best way to learn and to improve of
all. As always, if you want something else, you know, as Ruben did write to me,
and we'll include it in a future video for you. Okay, this is Harry saying
goodbye. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Join me again for the next lesson.