司關(guān)慶
英語中say,talk,speak和tell意義相近或相同,都有“說話,講述”之意,但用法不同,中學生極易混淆。
say(說話,講話),一般著重講話的內(nèi)容,指有連貫性的說話,通常用做及物動詞。例如:I dont know what he said.我不明白他所說的。My watch says six oclock
now.現(xiàn)在我的手表六點了。常見短語有say sorry to,say hello to, say goodbye to. 但對某人說要用say to somebody,這時say看作不及物動詞.Say之后也可以搭配賓語從句say that——比如He said that he had seen the movie before.此外say 也經(jīng)常用于直接引語?!癉ont be late again.”says the teacher.表示據(jù)說It is said that——.(for example)It is said that her mother is ill.(=Her mother is said to be ill.)
talk(講,說話,交談),talk強調(diào)兩個人之間的談話,有一種交流的意思,與speak的意義相近。一般用作不及物動詞,指一般的談話或交談,而不如speak正規(guī)的“演講”、“發(fā)言”。如,The old man is talking over there.作為不及物動詞,跟賓語時必須加上相應的介詞talk with/to somebody,talk about something.例如They are talking about English with the teacher.
speak(講話,說話,演講),側(cè)重于指正規(guī)的“演講”、“發(fā)言”“致詞”等(一個人在一群人中講話),強調(diào)說話的動作,強調(diào)單方的“說”或“講”。例如The baby cant speak.常常用作不及物動詞,例如 The headmaster is going to speak at our class meeting.但是跟語言作賓語時看作及物動詞,往往直接和語言連用,指人們對語言的掌握或使用,也可單獨用來表示發(fā)言或說話的基本能力。Can you speak English or Japanese? I can speak neither of them.另外speak 跟人時為不及物動詞,speak to somebody 經(jīng)常用在電話交談中 Could I speak to Mary,please? ——Sorry, she is nt here now.
tell(告訴,講述),tell指把一件事情告知給別人或講述一件事情、一個故事等,強調(diào)一個人向另一個人或多個人傳達某種信息。常用作及物動詞。該詞的用法相對復雜一些,其用法大致可以歸納為五個方面。首先,它是英語中表達講故事,說實話和撒謊的專用詞語tell a story, tell the truth,tell a lie.Dont tell lies to me, tell me the truth,please.其次,它可以用于雙賓結(jié)構(gòu),即tell somebody something或者用于tell somebody about something。例如,Would you like to tell me the truth? I want to tell you something about my English teacher.第三,它可用于復合結(jié)構(gòu)(賓語+賓語補足語)tell somebody to do something或者 tell somebody not to do something.例如,The teacher often tells us not to be late for class.My mother always tells me to study hard at school.第四,其后還可以跟賓語從句,即tell somebody that——.(for example)He told me that he had learned a lot from the story.最后,用于區(qū)分、辨別、比較事物的異同時常常使用tell.比如,Can you tell the differences between Picture 1 and Picture 2?你能說出圖一和圖二的區(qū)別嗎?I cannot tell which is which.我分不清哪個是哪個。有時還與from 連用 Can you tell true friends from false friends?你能分清真假朋友嗎?
總之,say 強調(diào)說話的內(nèi)容;speak 強調(diào)說話的動作,及物時加語言;talk強調(diào)兩個人之間的談話;tell則強調(diào)告知對方,區(qū)分異同。endprint