Lesson 8 – ‘SPEAK’ AND ‘TALK’

We use ‘speak’ and ‘talk’ to express the action of saying words. They are really similar verbs, but speak is more formal than talk.

PREPOSITIONS

We usually say:
1.       Speak to.  E.g.: I want to speak to you.
2.       Talk to.  E.g. I need to talk to you.
3.       Speak to someone about something.  E.g.  I would like to speak to you about the next class.
4.       Talk to someone about something.  E.g.  Can I talk to you about my idea?.

But in more formal situation we can use:
1.       Speak with.  E.g. May I speak with you Sir?.
2.       Talk with.  E.g. I need to talk with my boss.

COLLOCATION

Speak is always used to refer to:

o  Foreign language. E.g. How many languages do you speak?.

o   Speak up: It means ‘speaking more loudly’. E.g. You have to speak up if you want everybody to understand what you are saying.

o   Speak in public: conference, lectures… E.g. The president is going to speak about the annual results.

o   Idioms:
- Speak your mind (it means ‘speaking sincerely’). E.g. I need you to speak your mind.
- The facts speak for themselves (it means 'the facts prove something'). E.g. He committed the crime, the facts spoke for themselves.


Talk is used to:
o Talk sense or nonsense (it means ‘speak with coherence or without it’). E.g.
My grandma is really clever, she always talks a lot of sense.
You should think before speaking, if not you just talk nonsense.

o Talk business (it means ‘speaking about deals and business’). E.g. Let’s meet, we need to talk business.

o Idioms:
- Talk back (it means ‘answering impolitely’ to someone). E.g. The student talked back to his teacher.
- Talk behind my back (it means ‘talk secretly from someone’, without their knowledge). E.g. I only realised he was talking about me behind my back when his brother told me.


Now try to do the following exercise. You can find the correct answers at the bottom of this page.

Exercise 1.

1.       Talk / Speak is more formal than talk/speak

2.       We usually use talk and speak with the preposition to/for/by

3.       We always use talk/speak to refer to foreign languages

4.       We use the expression talk/speak business.

Exercise 2. Find the mistake in the following sentences

1.       Please talk up I cannot hear you.

2.       If you want me to believe in you, you must speak your head.

3.       I can talk fluency three languages, English, German and Portuguese.

4.       I will talk about economic issues in my speech tomorrow.

5.       Don’t try to confuse me, the facts talk for themselves.

6.       I don’t believe that you can speak me back like this.

7.       Speaking behind someone back is an example of bad manners.

__________________________________________________________ 

Correct answers.

Exercise 1.

1.       Talk, speak  /  2. To  /  3. Speak  /  4. Talk

Exercise 2.

1. Please speak up (no talk up)  /  2. you must speak your mind  /  3. I can speak fluency  /  4. speak about economic…  /  5. The facts speak for themselves / 6. you can talk me back like this. / 7. Talking behind someone back

Lesson 7 – ‘SEE’, ‘LOOK’ AND ‘WATCH’

‘See’, ‘look’ and ‘watch’ are verbs with different meaning. However, they are easily confused.

‘See’ is used when something comes to our eyes without us making any effort. We are not focusing on that thing.

         -          I saw your father this morning when I was waiting in the bank queue.

         -          If you go for a walk in The People’s Park, you can see a lot of people there.

‘See’ is also used for arrangements or meeting someone.

         -          I am seeing my mother this afternoon.

‘Look’ is used with the preposition ‘at’, ‘look at’, and it means to see something with intention, we pay attention to  it.

         -          Look at this man, he looks like Maradona.

         -         If you turn right now you will be looking at the most beautiful views in the city.

‘Watch’ is similar to look, but we usually use for watching long events, or something which is moving.

         -          Did you watch the movie last night?

         -          We can watch the match tonight.

Improve your English by doing the exercise. You can find the correct answers at the bottom of this page.

Exercise 1. Use the correct form of see, look at, and watch to fill the gaps.

1.       ________ this picture, it was taken in Prague.

      2.       This morning I _______ a plane flying really close to the ground.

      3.       Could you _______ this text for two minutes.

      4.       I like _________ my brothers playing football.

      5.       I am _________ this travel magazine.

      6.       Did you ________ the hurling match yesterday night.

      7.       I _______ what you mean.

      8.       I like _______ my sons playing together.

      9.       My mother has gone to ______ the doctor.

     10.   Can you ______ the cake for me, it is in the oven.

     11.   What about _______ a movie this night.

     12.       If you _______ the wall you will ______ the spider.

________________________________________________________

Correct answers.

 1. Look at / 2. saw / 3. look at / 4. watching / 5.looking at / 6. Watch / 7. See / 8.watching / 9. See / 10.look at or watch /  11. Watching / 12. Look at, see.

Lesson 6 – ‘SAY’ AND ‘TELL’

In our today’s lesson we are going to review the differences between ‘tell’ and ‘say’. 

The best way to remember how we use these verbs is learning the following sentence:

We tell somebody something   and   we say something to somebody.

For example:

TELL: I told my mother I was studying (tell+somebody+something=clause) 
Tell  = I told
Somebody = my mother
Something = I was studying.

 ‘Tell’ could be followed by ‘someone’ (noun or pronoun). E.g.:

1.       I tell you I have nothing to do with that.

SAY: I said to your parents that I was going away (say+to somebody+something)

Say = I said

To somebody = to your parents

Something = that I was going away.

‘Say’ can be followed by ‘to someone’ or by ‘something’ (clause). E.g.:

1.       I said to my teacher that I was tired (say + to someone + something).

2.       I said that I was tired (say + something).

COLLOCATIONS WITH TELL: The following expressions always use tell: 
Tell a story / Tell the truth / Tell a lie / Tell the time
      
We use tell for giving instructions or advice (Tell someone to do something). E.g.:  
1.       The teachers told the students to come earlier.

Now try to do the following exercise. You can find the correct answers at the bottom of this page.

Exercise 1.

      Write the correct form of ‘tell’ or ‘say’:   

       1.    Could you ________ me what the next stop is? 

       2.       He _______ he had never been in my country. 

       3.       Let me _______ him a couple of things about his behaviour. 

       4.       I need to _______ goodbye to your parents. 

       5.       The main character ______: “That’s all folks”. 

       6.       Your grandma _______ to me that she was ill. 

       7.       They ______ us to come back later. 

       8.       Don’t _____ me what to do. 

       9.       _____ them that extraordinary story.

 Exercise 2.

1. We usually use say/tell something to someone.

2. We usually use say/tell to someone something.

3. We usually use say/tell to give advice or instructions.

___________________________________________________________

Exercise 1. Correct answers:

1. Tell

2. Said

3. Tell

4. Say

5. Said

6. Said

7. Told

8. Tell

9. Tell

Exercise 2. Correct answers:

1. Say

2. Tell

3. Tell