What is the difference between told and said?

Answer 1

Told is a transitive verb. It always needs an object. If you use told without object, you are making a mistake. E.g. He told me that I am a good man(correct)(me is the object). He told that I am a good man(wrong). But said can be used without an object. He said that I am a good man(correct). I said her that we have to go there.

When you say something, you're normally just making a statement. When you tell something, you're usually either informing someone of something they don't know ("He's not here today," she told me.) or making a command. ("Go get the bucket," he told me.)

Answer 2

Ok, so I have also had a query about this question myself, and according to my understanding the major differences (grammatically speaking) are: 1.Said 1.1 When 'said' is used, it can be used for for providing a direct or indirect quote of what someone says. e.g. Tom said, 'I don't like pancakes'. becomes Tom said that he didn't like pancakes. (Please be aware that we use that when indirect speech is used!) 1.2 'Said' is therefore a verb we use to tell our readers that someone is saying something, we can use said for statements, exclamations or questions. (Of course there are lots of other verbs we can use to improve our reader's understanding of what the speaker is saying, he exclaimed, she queried, and the list goes on!) 2. Told 2.1 When 'told' is used, it can be used to talk about commands, and this means someone commanding someone to do something. 2.2 One major difference with 'told' compared to 'said', is a requirement to place an object pronoun after the 'told' verb. eg Tom's mother told him, 'You should do your homework before watching television!" becomesTom's mother told him that he should do his homework before watching television. 2.3 'Told' can also be used to tell the reader that the speaker is providing information. (Pun intended, of course!) eg Tom told the police officer, 'I don't know where Mrs Plum's cat went!' becomes Tom told the police officer that he didn't know where Mrs Plum's cat had gone. And, of course there is one more difference as well, the requirement for the preposition 'to' with the use of 'said' compared to the lack of a preposition, when 'told' is used. eg Tom said to me... eg Tom told me... Why a 'to' preposition I hear you ask...lots of answers to that question! Well not really! When we use 'said' we need to specify who we are speaking to, as this verb can be ambiguous! That is, Tom could be speaking to anybody! Therefore we need to specify, to whom. (That is, whom being the object!) However, concerning 'told', well you are always telling someone to do something, the verb 'told' being such a commanding verb it always requires an object pronoun directly after the verb, therefore there is no need for a preposition! So, I hope this answers your question! Michael out!

Answer 3

I was told that I should not split infinitives.
I said that grammar is important.

Answer 4

I was told that I should not split infinatives.
I said that grammar is important.