tittle-tattle about sb/sth
about 后接被议论的对象或事情，含贬义。
The neighbours love to tittle-tattle about her private life.
邻居们喜欢对她的私生活说三道四。
说闲话；散布流言蜚语
tittle-tattling — present participle of tittle-tattle
参与闲聊；传播闲话；闲聊；漫谈
To gossip; to talk about or spread stories about other people's private lives.
参与闲聊
To engage in gossip.
传播闲话
To spread gossip.
一般现在时
He tittle-tattles about his neighbors every day.
他每天闲聊邻居的事。
一般过去时
They tittle-tattled during the meeting yesterday.
他们昨天在会议期间闲聊。
现在进行时
She is tittle-tattling on the phone right now.
她此刻正在电话里闲聊。
规则动词
They spent the whole afternoon tittle-tattling about their neighbors.
他们整个下午都在说邻居的闲话。
用法提示：现在分词形式 tittle-tattling 表示正在闲聊。
She tittle-tattles about everyone she meets.
她对每个遇到的人都要说三道四。
用法提示：第三人称单数形式 tittle-tattles 表示习惯性的八卦行为。
He tittle-tattled to his friends about the secret plan.
他向朋友们散布关于秘密计划的流言。
用法提示：过去式 tittle-tattled 表示过去的散布流言行为。
about 后接被议论的对象或事情，含贬义。
The neighbours love to tittle-tattle about her private life.
邻居们喜欢对她的私生活说三道四。
with 后接一起说闲话的人；该动词也可单独使用，如 They were tittle-tattling in the corner.
She spent the afternoon tittle-tattling with her colleagues.
她一下午都在和同事闲聊八卦。
grammar · medium
易错句子They like to tittle-tattle other people's private lives.
正确表达They like to tittle-tattle about other people's private lives.
tittle-tattle 是不及物动词，谈论的对象不能直接作宾语，必须借助介词 about 引出：tittle-tattle about sth。汉语“议论某事”可以直接带宾语，容易迁移出上面这种漏掉介词的错误。
grammar · medium
易错句子He tittle-tattle all afternoon yesterday.
正确表达He tittle-tattled all afternoon yesterday.
句子讲的是昨天发生的事，谓语要用过去式；tittle-tattle 的规则过去式是在词尾加 -ed，写作 tittle-tattled。汉语动词没有时态变化，学习者容易直接用原形。
grammar · medium
易错句子The two women were tittletattling in the corner.
正确表达The two women were tittle-tattling in the corner.
tittle-tattle 是由 tittle 和 tattle 重叠构成的复合词，书写时两部分之间要保留连字符，现在分词形式为 tittle-tattling；去掉连字符写成 tittletattling 不是标准拼写。
两者意思最接近，但 gossip 是日常中性、最常用的说法，可作名词也可作动词；tittle-tattle 带轻蔑、儿语化的重叠音色彩，专指琐碎无聊、传来传去的闲话，正式写作中少用。想中性地叙述“聊天议论别人”用 gossip，想表达“嚼舌根、搬弄琐事”的贬义用 tittle-tattle。
形近且都与“说”有关，但 tattle 指（多指小孩）向大人告发别人，重点在“告状”，常与 on 连用；tittle-tattle 只指传播闲话本身，没有告发、打小报告的意味。
都指闲谈，但 chatter 强调连续说话的动作和兴致，内容未必涉及他人私事，也不含贬义；tittle-tattle 强调内容是琐碎八卦、爱传闲话，带贬义。只是热闹地聊个不停用 chatter，议论别人私事用 tittle-tattle。
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