A single action in detail.<br><i>About the action rulebooks <ahref=inform:/doc178.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/help.png></a></i></p>
</td>
</tr></table>
<hr><b>Standard actions concerning other people</b><br>Giving it to <ahref=24_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Showing it to <ahref=25_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Waking <ahref=26_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Throwing it at <ahref=27_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Attacking <ahref=28_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Kissing <ahref=29_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Answering it that <ahref=30_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, <b>Telling it about</b> <ahref=31_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Asking it about <ahref=32_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a>, Asking it for <ahref=33_A.html><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Beneath.png></a><p><hr><p><b>Telling <fontcolor="#000080">something</font> about <fontcolor="#000080">some text</font></b><aname=Tell></a> (<i>past tense</i> told it about)<br>
<p>The Standard Rules do
not include any systematic way to handle conversation: instead, Inform is
set up so that it is as easy as we can make it to write specific rules
handling speech in particular games, and so that if no such rules are
written then all attempts to communicate are gracefully if not very
interestingly rejected.<br><br>The topic here can be any double-quoted text, which can itself contain
tokens in square brackets: see the documentation on Understanding.<br><br>Telling is an action existing only to catch commands like TELL ALEX ABOUT
GUITAR. Customarily in IF, such a command is shorthand which the player
accepts as a conventional form: it means 'tell Alex what I now know about
the guitar' and would make sense if the player had himself recently
discovered something significant about the guitar which might interest
Alex.<p><hr><p><b>Typed commands leading to this action</b><p>
<pclass="hangingin2">"tell [someone] about [text]"</p><p><b>Rules controlling this action</b></p><p>
<pclass="hangingin2">instead of <i>doing something to the cables</i> <ahref="source:story.ni#line53"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Reveal.png></a></p>
<pclass="hangingin2">instead of <i>asking, answering, or telling</i> <ahref="source:story.ni#line32"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/Reveal.png></a></p>
<br><pclass="hangingin2">check <i>an actor telling something about</i> <fontcolor="#800000">telling yourself rule</font> <ahref="javascript:pasteCode('telling yourself rule')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>name</i><ahref="javascript:pasteCode('The telling yourself rule is not listed in the check telling it about rulebook.[=0x000A=]')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>unlist</i> <ahref="#"onclick="showResp('extra1000223', 'plus1000223'); return false;"><imgborder=0id="plus1000223"src=inform:/doc_images/responses.png></a> 1</p>
<divid="extra1000223"style="display: none;"><pclass="in2"> <spanstyle="color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; background-color: #8080ff;"> A </span><spanstyle="color: #000066;">"[We] [talk] to [ourselves] a while."</span> <ahref="javascript:pasteCode('telling yourself rule response (A)')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>name</i> <ahref="javascript:pasteCode('telling yourself rule response (A) is [=0x0022=]New text.[=0x0022=].')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>set</i></div>
<br><pclass="hangingin2">report <i>an actor telling something about</i> <fontcolor="#800000">block telling rule</font> <ahref="javascript:pasteCode('block telling rule')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>name</i><ahref="javascript:pasteCode('The block telling rule is not listed in the report telling it about rulebook.[=0x000A=]')"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/paste.png></a> <i>unlist</i> <ahref="#"onclick="showResp('extra1000224', 'plus1000224'); return false;"><imgborder=0id="plus1000224"src=inform:/doc_images/responses.png></a> 1</p>
<br>Click on the speech-bubble icons to see the responses, or here to see all of them: <ahref="#"onclick="showAllResp(); return false;"><imgborder=0src=inform:/doc_images/responses.png></a> 2</p>