To tell and telling

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello everybody,

Which one is right for sentence below?

  1. My last manager asked me to tell the information to Ms. Lye.
  2. My last manager asked me telling the information to Ms. Lye.

Please give an explanation about ‘to tell’ and ‘telling’.

Thanks in advance.

2

The correct form is “to tell”. We call this the infinitive form of the verb. It must be associated with another verb, which is “asked” in your example. The subject “my last manager” has the main verb “asked”. That is principally what he did. The object, “me” has the infinitive “to tell”. We know from the sentence that the subject completed the action of asking. We don’t know what you did. We are left wondering, “to tell or not to tell”. If you were to write, “My last manager asked me by telling the information to Ms. Lye,” we could guess that you meant that the manager wanted to ask something of you, but he sent the information indirectly by telling the information to Ms. Lye who in turn asked you. Another formation might be “My last manager noticed me as I was telling the information to Ms. Lye.” In this example, what you have already completed is the telling. In your first example, we cannot know if the act is completed. Did you actually comply with the request and tell Ms. Lye or did you fail to tell her? In that sense, we cannot place any sense of past, present, or future on the infinitive “to tell”. When Shakespeare wrote, “To be or not to be,” we have a masterful use of the infinitive. Obviously he gave us a sense of uncertainty, but should it apply to the present sense of existence or to the future sense of existence? That is the question.

3

Hello Lance,

Thanks a lot for the explanation.

So, “telling” is a continuous form?

4

Telling can be used in several ways:

  • He is telling me his life story. (present continuous aspect of the verb “to tell” – the subject “he” is doing something with no specified time span)
  • He was telling me his life story. (past continuous aspect – the action covered a span of time, but the action has ended.)
  • He has been telling me his life story. (This is most often the present perfect continuous – the action may or may not have been interrupted – perhaps I got bored and walked away. Some people will use this form interchangeably with the present continuous.)
  • He had been telling me his life story. (past perfect continuous – the action covered some span of time, but it has ended. We should use this form if we include a reference to the time span. If not, it serves the same purpose as past continuous aspect.)
  • I didn’t enjoy him in general, but I enjoyed his telling me his life story. (gerund – “telling” is a thing. The subject enjoyed the telling, but not the teller.) NOTE: many native speakers don’t recognize the gerund correctly and would say, “I enjoyed him telling me his life story.” If a gerund is a thing, the possessive pronoun “his” is correct. Otherwise, we couldn’t distinguish between enjoying him and enjoying his telling.)
  • The blood trail on the floor was a telling sign that the injured thief was hiding in the closet. (adjective synonymous with " conspicuous")
5

Lance, thanks a lot for the explanation.

I have learned more from you.

Regards,

6

hi just wanna ask you if where can i post my questions about grammar. thanks

7

Click on English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms section, and then click on New Topic.

8

i think to tell

9

Are you guys okay here. I’m just checking you out if you’re okay. If you need something don’t be ashamed to approach me. (I went to their room next to my room just to know if they’re just okay).