to tell a story
84
1.1
- phrasal verb
- /tɛl ə ˈstɔri/
:
contar una historia
- Every evening, my grandmother likes to tell a story about her childhood adventures.
- tell a personal story
- a man tells a story
- pictures tell a story
He told a story and so did John and Mark.
- He told a story and so did John and Mark.
- Teach me how to tell a story like Morgan Hassell.
- The robot will also tell a story and then ask questions about it.
- So I'll I'll tell a story that I've told before.
- Listen, tell it, tell it, tell a story.
- And I'm super passionate about telling a story that's not true.
- And So what most people will tell a story and then they stop.
- And it's it's telling a story in a unique way.
- We don't need traditional media to tell a story because we can do that ourselves.
- You know how to tell a story and it shows never look away.
Examples
-
An effective resume should tell a story about the applicant's qualifications and prior experience for a job.
Academic text (2012) -
Lithgow definitely knows how to tell a story and how to tell it well.
Academic text (2008) -
And I want to tell a story to explain why.
-
Yeah, OK, so let me tell a story about about one of the groups that does this.
-
When someone tells a story, they create a whole world.
-
The character can tell a story about his or her life and experiences making music.
Academic text (2002) -
We ask, who has the right to tell a story, who is entitled to it?
Academic text (2017) -
For a more personal touch, tell a story through your accessories.
-
I was driving up to this cabin up north... and you were telling a story and I was laughing.
-
The film's plot tells a story of five lifelong friends who won their high school basketball championship in 1978.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Talk about events or stories
∞
1.0
To use words to show what a person or thing is like
83
4.1
To tell someone about something you experienced in detail
73
1.4
Talk about events, real or imagined, to other people
59
4.0
To tell a story, usually by speaking or writing
58
2.9
To tell what happened
3
3.5
Say a story about something that happened or show signs of it
1
6.8
To tell a long made-up or exaggerated story
1
4.8
Make up and tell a tale, often to entertain or avoid trouble
1
6.7
To tell a long story that is probably not true
Antonyms
How Detailed
83
4.1
- Informal
1
6.8
59
4.0
84
1.1
- US
90
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to narrate an account' is directly and compositionally derived from 'tell' (recount) + 'story' (a narrative); the article 'a' is just a determiner and does not alter meaning. This construction is cross-linguistically common and follows standard verb + object patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
Tell a story comes from the simple image of someone sitting by a fire and using words to paint events and people for the listeners. Because 'tell' means to say and 'story' is the tale being told, tell a story means 'to tell about events'.