Tell vs How - What's the difference?
tell | how |
(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.
To what degree.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
In what manner.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
In what state.
The means by which something is accomplished.
* 1924 , Joseph Rickaby, Studies on God and His Creatures? , p. 102:
In which way; in such way.
That, the fact that, the way that.
* 2010 April 24, Jesse McKinley, “
(dialectal) An artificial barrow or tumulus.
(dialectal) A small hill in northern England. (Usage preserved mainly in place names.)
As nouns the difference between tell and how
is that 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 or tell can be (archaeology) a mound, originally in the middle east, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements while how is the means by which something is accomplished or how can be (dialectal) an artificial barrow or tumulus.As a verb tell
is (lb) to count, reckon, or enumerate.As an adverb how is
to what degree.As a conjunction how is
in which way; in such way.As an interjection how is
.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 .
See also
* dead giveawayEtymology 2
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Statistics
* 200 English basic words English control verbs English irregular verbs English reporting verbs English verbs with two objects 1000 English basic words ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==Verb
(head)how
English
(wikipedia how)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), (etyl) . /hw/ > /h/ due to in (etyl); compare (m), which underwent this change later, and thus is spelt ''wh ((etyl) spelling of /hw/) but pronounced /h/ (it previously had a different vowel, hence avoided the spelling and sound change in Old English). Vowel change per Great Vowel Shift. Akin to (etyl) (m) ((etyl) (m)), . See (m) and compare (m).Adverb
(-)Boundary problems, passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
- How are you?
- How was your vacation?
Usage notes
* See usage notes on else. * How good is it?'' means "To what extent is it good?", whereas ''How is it good?'' means "In what manner is it good?". Likewise, ''I know how good it is'' means "I know the extent to which it is good", whereas ''I know how it is good means "I know the manner in which it is good".Derived terms
* how many * how much * how come * how so * know-howNoun
(en noun)- I am not interested in the why, but in the how .
- It is an a posteriori argument, evincing the fact, but not the how .
Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)- I remember how to solve this puzzle.
Don’t Call It ‘Pot’ in This Circle; It’s a Profession]”, in [[w:The New York Times, The New York Times], page A1:
- “There’s this real Al Capone fear that they’re going to get our guys, not on marijuana, but on something else,” Mr. Edson said, referring to how Capone was eventually charged with tax evasion rather than criminal activity.