What is the difference between saying and telling?

[Chicoola]

Test No. incompl/inter-9 "Say/Tell", question 5

That's what people are always ..........

(a) say
(b) said
(c) telling
(d) saying

Test No. incompl/inter-9 "Say/Tell", answer 5

That's what people are always saying.

Correct answer: (d) saying

Your answer was: correct
_________________________

what is the difference between saying and telling?

Chicoola

[Alan]

Say is used for speaking words whereas tell takes an object and has the sense of relate as in tell a story.
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Reflections

[casafon]

Hi Alan,
what the meaning of the sentence "That what people are always saying", does it mean "this the general opinion about it"? The sentence "That what people always say" is it correct and used as well?

[Alan]

Hi Casafon,

'What people are always saying' means making comments nowadays about a topic. This is used to make the 'saying' more immediate - what people are saying on the street, in public, in the pub. 'What people always say' suggests that this is what people typically say in any particular situation. - it's the kind of response you would expect.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Only Three Letters

[giang93]

Hi Chicoola
I agree with the explanation of Alan .
But i have another explanation is that : .Say is most often used without a personal object. If we want to put a personal object after say, we use to.
But after tell, we usually say who is told, i.e., tell someone something . And it is also the emphasis to report
Hope this is an useful help for you !!! ( ^ - ^ )