tell it to her father vs tell her father about it

[optimistic pessimist]

Dear all,

Which do you think is better to say, "telll it to her" or tell her about it" in the sentences below?

1. When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO flying across the sky. She was surprised and told it to her father, but he dedn't believe her.

2. When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO flying across the sky. She was surprised and told her father about it, but he didn't believe her.

Thank you!

OP

 

[Barb_D]

Re: "tell it to her father" vs "tell her father about it"

Only #2. "told IT to her father" requires "it" to be a story, a joke, an anecdote etc.

 

[Tdol]

Re: "tell it to her father" vs "tell her father about it"

I agree- the first sentence doesn't work.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dear all,

Which do you think is better to say, "telll it to her" or tell her about it" in the sentences below?

1. When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO flying across the sky. She was surprised and told [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE][STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] her father, but he didn't believe her.
Remove "it to" as I have done, and it's fine.

2. When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO flying across the sky. She was surprised and told her father about it, but he didn't believe her.

Thank you!

OP

See above. In addition, you don't really need "flying across the sky" as you have already said "When Cathy looked up in the sky". You can just say "When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO".

EDIT: I've just discovered that this is a duplicate thread and you already had two replies. Please don't post the same thing twice.

 

[bhaisahab]

I have merged the two threads.

 

[optimistic pessimist]

Dear all,

I'm really sorry. I thought the first post disappeared for some reason....


OP

 

[BobK]

See above. In addition, you don't really need "flying across the sky" as you have already said "When Cathy looked up in the sky". You can just say "When Cathy looked up in the sky, she saw a UFO".

...

:up: ...and the reason for that, OP, is that the 'F' of 'UFO' stands for 'Flying'. So a UFO can't do anything else!

b