What the tell says
Above your buttons sits one sentence saying what it is doing, and under that two numbers: what the blow does to you if you are close when it lands, and what it does if you are far. The one at your current range is underlined.
Those numbers are before your dodge and a small variance, ±2. A blow can miss. You should not plan on it.
What it is asking
Most blows threaten one range and spare the other. You can move to the spared range, and moving usually costs you your shot. You can stay and trade, and take the number. You can patch, or run, or pay. None of those is free, and no button is right every turn.
Some moves are no attack at all, and the tell says so: your hits land ×1.5 that turn. Some come with a shell behind them, and the tell says that too: cannons ×0.3. Anything else it means to do, it writes beside the numbers.
The clock
A fight is not a place to wait for the perfect turn. Every 3 turns the thing you are fighting hits 25% harder, up to +100%, and the fight's head shows how far along it is. The safe range buys you a blow. It does not buy you time.
The clock is already in the number. On the turn it moves, what the tell shows you is the blow that is coming, and the log tells you it is getting angrier as it lands.
What it will not tell you
What it does after that. The next move is the only one you get, and only the Actuary shows you two, which is not a kindness.
That is also why there is no list of any monster's moves in this guide or the bestiary. You would be reading the wrong thing.