Difference between said and told

[Fernando]

Test No. errors/inter-3 "Sally and her Letter", question 2

She said her boss that she would be unable to come to work the following day because her car had broken down.

(a) said
(b) would be
(c) to
(d) had

Test No. errors/inter-3 "Sally and her Letter", answer 2

She told her boss that she would be unable to come to work the following day because her car had broken down.

Correct entry: told
The error was: (a) said
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What is the difference between said and told?

[Alan]

Hi Fernando

In this particular sentence you would have to use said as follows: She said to her boss that ..

Alan
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[Christina328]

[Lost_Soul]

The same thing happens to me !!!

[Alan]

HI,

Said to is not one of the choices.

Alan
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[Yankee]

Hi Alan

I assume that lost_soul and Christina's son both mean that they selected "said" as the error and then typed in "said to" as the correction. But doing that results in the software telling you that 'your answer is incorrect'.

Am I correct in assuming that it's only possible to program in one correct answer per question in the tests?

................

Hi lost_soul

Although "said to" would be grammatically correct, it is definitely more natural / typical to use the word "told" in that sentence.

Amy

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

We can add several correct answer options to each of the error sentences so said to will be correct in this question too.
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[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

That sounds great!

Amy