Read vs Tell - What's the difference?
read | tell |
(obsolete) To think, believe; to consider (that).
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.i:
(transitive, or, intransitive) To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
* 1661 , ,
(transitive, or, intransitive) To speak aloud words or other information that is written. Often construed with a ''to'' phrase or an indirect object.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
, passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 To interpret or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc.
To consist of certain text.
Of text, etc., to be interpreted or read in a particular way.
To substitute (a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one); (used to introduce an emendation of a text).
* 1832 , John Lemprière et al., Bibliotheca classica , Seventh Edition, W. E. Dean,
(informal, usually, ironic) .
* 2009 , Suzee Vlk et al., The GRE Test for Dummies , Sixth Edition, Wiley Publishing, ISBN 978-0-470-00919-2,
(telecommunications) To be able to hear what another person is saying over a radio connection.
(British) To make a special study of, as by perusing textbooks.
(computing) To fetch data from (a storage medium, etc.).
(obsolete) To advise; to counsel. See rede.
* (William Tyndale)
(obsolete) To tell; to declare; to recite.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.iv:
(transgenderism) To recognise (someone) as being transgender.
(read)
A reading or an act of reading, especially an actor's part of a play.
* Furnivall
* Philip Larkin, Self's the Man
* 2006 , MySQL administrator's guide and language reference (page 393)
(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
:
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
*:And in his lap a masse of coyne he told , / And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye / A couetous desire with his huge threasury.
*1875 , Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine :
*:Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.
(lb) To narrate.
:
*, chapter=7
, title= (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
:
*, chapter=4
, title= (lb) To instruct or inform.
:
*Bible, (w) xii. 18
*:Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
(lb) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
:
*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)
*:He told her not to be frightened.
*'>citation
*:Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.
(lb) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
:
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
(lb) To reveal.
:
(lb) To be revealed.
*1990 , (Stephen Coonts), Under Siege, 1991 (Pocket Books) edition, ISBN 0671742949, p.409:
*:Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling . Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.
(lb) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
:
*1859 (John Stuart Mill), (On Liberty)
*:Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may holdkeeping nothing back which tells', or can be supposed to ' tell , in their favour.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
, title= A reflexive, often habitual behavior, (especially) one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
That which is told; tale; account.
* Walpole
(internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
(archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
In transitive terms the difference between read and tell
is that read is to substitute (a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one); used to introduce an emendation of a text while tell is to reveal.In intransitive terms the difference between read and tell
is that read is of text, etc., to be interpreted or read in a particular way while tell is to have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.As verbs the difference between read and tell
is that read is to think, believe; to consider (that) while tell is to count, reckon, or enumerate.As nouns the difference between read and tell
is that read is a reading or an act of reading, especially an actor's part of a play while tell is a reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.As a proper noun Read
is {{surname|from=Old English}}, a less common spelling variant of Reid.read
English
(wikipedia read)Verb
- But now, faire Ladie, comfort to you make, / And read / That short reuenge the man may ouertake […].
The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
- During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant
citation, passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement. […]}}
- The passage reads differently in the earlier manuscripts.
- That sentence reads strangely.
page 263:
- In , it is nearly certain that for Pylleon we should read Pteleon, as this place is mentioned in connection with Antron.
page 191:
- Eliminate illogical (read : stupid) answer choices.
- to read''' a hard disk; to '''read''' a port; to '''read the keyboard
- Therefore, I read thee, get to God's word, and thereby try all doctrine.
- But read how art thou named, and of what kin.
Usage notes
* When "read" is used transitively with an author's name as the object, it generally means "to look at writing(s) by (the specified person)" (rather than "to recognise (the specified person) as transgender"). Example: "I am going to read Milton before I read His Dark Materials'', so I know what ''His Dark Materials is responding to."Synonyms
* (look at and interpret letters or other information) interpret, make out, make sense of, understand, scan * (speak aloud words or other information that is written) read aloud, read out, read out loud, speak * (be able to hear) copy, hear, receive * (make a study of) learn, study, look upAntonyms
* (to be recognised as transgender) passDerived terms
* beread * cold read * dictated but not read * have one's head read * lip read/lip-read * mind-read * misread * overread * read along * read between the lines * read dating * read for * read my lips * read-only * read out * read over * read somebody like a book * read somebody the riot act * read someone's mind * read the green * read through * read up * readable * reader * reading * RTFM * sight read * speed-read * underread * unread * WORM/Write Once Read Many * well-readNoun
(en noun)- One newswoman here lets magazines for a penny a read .
- And when he finishes supper / Planning to have a read at the evening paper / It's Put a screw in this wall — / He has no time at all
- In other words, the system can do 1200 reads per second with no writes, the average write is twice as slow as the average read, and the relationship is linear.
Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "read") * cold read * read-out, readoutSee also
(read)Statistics
*tell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ((etyl) telja). More at tale.Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, passage=But England's superior fitness told in the second half, with Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (two) going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.}}
Synonyms
* (enumerate) count * (narrate) narrate, recount, relateAntonyms
* (to instruct or inform) askDerived terms
* all told * tell against * tell all * tell-all * tell off * tell on * tell-tale / telltale * tell tales * tell tales out of school * tellerNoun
(en noun)- I am at the end of my tell .