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so with say and tell

Instead of that-clauses​

So can be used after say and tell instead of repeating information in a that-clause.

  • She’s going to be the next president. Everybody says so. (= … Everybody says that she’s going to be the next president.)
  • ‘You’ve got to clean the car.’ ‘Who says so?’
  • Taxes are going up. Joseph told me so.

Note that so is used in this way mostly when we are talking about the authority for statements, about reasons why we should believe them. When we simply want to identify the speaker, we prefer that. Compare:

  • ‘Megan’s crazy.’ ‘Who says so?’ ‘Dr Bannister.’
  • ‘Megan’s crazy.’ ‘Who said that?’ ‘I did.’

I told you so.​

I told you so usually means ‘I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen to me’.

  • ‘Mummy, I’ve broken my train.’ ‘I told you so. You shouldn’t have tried to ride on it.’

Other verbs​

So cannot be used after all verbs of saying. We cannot say, for example, She promised me so.