tell off — scold / reprimand (Murphy Unit 141, Phrasal verbs on/off)
Pattern
Section titled “Pattern”tell + someone + off = scold / reprimand someone for doing something wrong.
- The teacher told off the noisy kids.
- My mum told me off for being late.
- Why didn’t you tell them off? = Why didn’t you scold them?
Split phrasal verb — object goes in the middle
Section titled “Split phrasal verb — object goes in the middle”tell off is a separable phrasal verb:
- tell them off ✓
- tell off them ✗ (wrong — pronoun can’t go after the particle)
Rule: pronouns MUST split the phrasal verb (tell them off); longer noun phrases can go either side (tell off the noisy kids / tell the noisy kids off).
Pattern with reason
Section titled “Pattern with reason”tell + someone + off + for + [reason]
- I told him off for being rude.
- She told me off for arriving late.
- The manager told him off for missing the deadline.
Registers
Section titled “Registers”| Word | Tone | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tell off | casual, common | I told him off. |
| scold | formal-ish, old-fashioned | She scolded the children. |
| reprimand | official, workplace | He was reprimanded by HR. |
| chew out | AmE slang | The coach chewed him out. |
| a telling-off | noun form | He got a telling-off. |
Test application
Section titled “Test application”A: Some children in the restaurant were behaving very badly. B: Why didn’t you tell them off?
tell them off = scold them (the badly-behaving children). The other options are phrasal-verb distractors (get on, carried on, get on with, ripped off, go off) — unrelated to the context.
Source
Section titled “Source”Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use (4th ed.), Unit 141 — Phrasal verbs on/off 2. Ebot lesson 2026-08-29: “Why didn’t you ___ them ___?” → tell … off (scold). Split phrasal verb, pronoun must sit between verb and particle.