1、speak———“说”、“讲”、“演讲”.做及物动词时,宾语常是表示语言的词.例如：
Do you speak Chinese?你说汉语吗?
Mr.Wu is going to speak at our class meeting.吴老师将在班会上发言.
2、talk———“讲”、“说话”、“谈话”,与speak的意义相近.一般用做不及物动词,指一般的谈话或交谈,而不如speak正规的“演讲”、“发言”,须跟宾语时,与to、with、about等介词连用.例如：Jim is going to talk about English names tomorrow.吉姆明天打算谈谈英国人的名字.
Look!Our teacher is talking
to(with)theparents.瞧!我们的老师正在和家长们谈话.
3、say———一般着重讲话的内容,指有连贯性的说话,通常用做及物动词.例如：
Idon’t know what he said.我不明白他所说的.
Kate saw a card on her
table,itsaid：“Happy birthday!”
凯特看见桌上一张卡片,上面写着：“生日快乐!”
4、tell指把一件事情传达给别人或讲述一件事情、一个故事等.常用做及物动词.
例如：When Iwas young,my mother often told me a story in
the evening.在我小时,妈妈晚上常给我讲故事.
He will tell the good news to everybody in our class.他将把这个好消息告诉我们班的每个人.