tell
Tell is a common verb which is used in several different ways. Its past form and -ed participle is told.
information
If someone tells you something, they give you some information. You usually refer to this information by using a that-clause or a wh-clause.
Tell Dad the electrician has come.
I told her what the doctor had said.
You can sometimes refer to the information that is given by using a noun phrase as the direct object of tell. When the direct object is not a pronoun, you put the indirect object first.
She told him the news.
I never told her a thing.
When the direct object is a pronoun, you usually put it first. You put to in front of the indirect object.
I've never told this to anyone else in my whole life.
When you are referring back to information that has already been mentioned, you use so after tell. For example, you say ‘I didn’t agree with him and I told him so'. Don't say ‘I didn’t agree with him and I told him it'.
She knows that I might be late. I have told her so.
‘Then how do you know she’s well?' – ‘She told me so.’
stories, jokes, lies
You say that someone tells a story or a joke.
She told me the story of her life.
He's extremely funny when he tells a joke.
You can also say that someone makes or cracks a joke.
➜ See joke
You say that someone tells a lie.
We told a lot of lies.
If someone is not lying, you say that they are telling the truth.
We knew that he was telling the truth.
I wondered why I hadn't told Mary the truth.
When you use tell to talk about stories, jokes, or lies, the indirect object can go either after the direct object or in front of it.
His friend told me this story.
Many hours had passed when Karen finished telling her story to Kim.
orders
If you tell someone to do something, you order or instruct them to do it. When tell has this meaning, it is followed by an object and a to-infinitive.
Tell Martha to come to my office.
They told us to put on our seat-belts.
Be careful
Don't use tell like this without an object. Don't say, for example, ‘They told to put on our seat-belts’.
Don't use tell like this without an object. Don't say, for example, ‘They told to put on our seat-belts’.
recognizing the truth
If you can tell what is happening or what is true, you are able to judge correctly what is happening or what is true.
I can usually tell when someone's lying to me.
I couldn't tell what they were thinking.
When tell has this meaning, you usually use can, could, or be able to with it.
‘inform’
Inform means the same as tell, but it is more formal, and is used in slightly different ways. You can inform someone of something, or inform someone that something is the case.
The public is informed of the financial benefits that are available.
It was his duty to inform the king that his country was in danger.
In conversation and in less formal writing, you usually use tell.