The difference between "speak of" and "tell of"

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gloria0402@gmail.com - 12 Jan 2009 01:12 GMT

Dear all,

I have problems telling the differences between these two idioms. They
were both found in the cloze test that I edited for my students. The
following text is for your reference.

William Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story of a
young couple whose families had long feuded with each other. When
Romeo saw Juliet at a party, he fell in love with her at first sight.
Feeling deeply troubled after the party, Romeo crept into the
Capulets' garden and stood underneath Juliet's bedroom window. He
heard Juliet ____ her love for him and then his heart leaped.

a) spoke b) speaking c) told d) telling

The answer is b.

I checked the dictionary and found "tell of" can also mean
"describe." Is it possilbe that d) is aslo a good answer. Thanks in
advance. With best regards,

Gloria

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tony cooper - 12 Jan 2009 02:21 GMT

>Dear all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>"describe." Is it possilbe that d) is aslo a good answer. Thanks in
>advance. With best regards,

"B" is correct. "D" is not correct because "D" is "telling". If "D"
was "tell of", then it too would be correct. But it isn't.

Signature

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

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gloria0402@gmail.com - 12 Jan 2009 05:55 GMT

> >Dear all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> - 顯示被引用文字 -

Sorry, the fault is on mine. I missed a word in the text. The revised
text should be like that: " ..... He
heard Juliet ____ of her love for him and then his heart leaped."
There should be an "of" after the blank. If that is the case, could be
D be a good answer? Thanks,

Gloria

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 12 Jan 2009 08:50 GMT

>> >Dear all,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>There should be an "of" after the blank. If that is the case, could be
>D be a good answer? Thanks,

Not really.

"To tell" is to give information or an instruction to someone.

Juliet was not doing that. She was "thinking out loud". She was speaking but
she was not telling anyone her thoughts.

Signature

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

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Daniel James - 12 Jan 2009 12:22 GMT

> [Gloria0402 wrote]
> >Sorry, the fault is on mine. I missed a word in the text. The
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Juliet was not doing that. She was "thinking out loud". She was
> speaking but she was not telling anyone her thoughts.

In the context I agree, you can only "tell of your love" to another
person ... so as Juliet was alone (apart from the theatre audience, of
course) "speak" fits better.

Grammatically, though, I'd say that the sentence is equally correct
with any of "speak of", "speaking of", "telling of" and "tell of".

Cheers,
Daniel.

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Lazarus Cooke - 12 Jan 2009 23:38 GMT

In article
<eabab7ac-6aa5-423d-bb78-aa9570bce6a3@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com>,

> Dear all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> The answer is b.

This is shocking. The whole thing is very badly written and all four
are bad, if not wrong.

'talking about' is idiomatic and correct.

L

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Tron - 16 Jan 2009 04:30 GMT

> Dear all,
>
> I have problems telling the differences between these two idioms. They
> were both found in the cloze test that I edited for my students. The
> following text is for your reference.

...
Sematically, try using "discussing" for "speaking of",
and "reporting" or "giving testimony of" for "telling of".

One may dicuss anything with anybody saying anything,
while an (eye)witness must describe something truly for it to be a
creditable witness account.

HTH,

MVH,

T

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009

The difference between "speak of" and "tell of"