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# retell

«retell» in Mova's school dictionary: **to tell it again, often in your own words** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (retell, retells, retold, retelling); noun retelling

### meaning for a pupil

1) To retell a story is to tell it again, often in your own words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#m1)

2) A retelling is a new version of an old story. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In English lessons, pupils retell stories orally or in writing to show they understand the order of events; story maps help. In books, a retelling gives a fresh version of a fairy tale or myth. Phrases: "retell the story", "retell in your own words", "a modern retelling".

### examples

- Retell the story of the Three Little Pigs in your own words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x1)
- Grandma retold the tale of how she met Grandad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x2)
- We used a story map to retell "The Gruffalo". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x3)
- The film is a modern retelling of Cinderella. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x4)
- Can you retell what happened at break time? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x5)
- The myth has been retold many times. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/#x6)

### note

Irregular, like "tell": retell, retold, retold. Noun: retelling. To retell is not to copy word for word; it means giving the main events in order using your own words.

### In the corpora

- [A recount retells real events in time order: «On Tuesday, Class 4 went to the seaside.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/23-reading-non-fiction-recount-instructions-report/1/)
- [Many boasts are mostly true with one bit stretched; stories often grow each time they are retold.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/435-boasting-cousins-and-made-up-holidays/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «retell» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/retell/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.