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Homerfarmsby Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
'DIRECT SPEECH' VS 'REPORTED SPEECH'
Per British punctuation ...
Then she said, 'I did it because Henry said, "I don't care what you do".' [Henry might have said something similar to what she quoted but not exactly those words - thus the period falls outside of the double quote marks. But if she quoted the exact, verbatim words of Henry, the full stop would fall within the ending quote marks like this:
... what you do." ']
In reports and stories it is often necessary to tell the reader what someone has said. If the words are quoted exactly as spoken, it is 'direct speech'. In writing this is shown by different punctuation.
The full stop falls INSIDE the ending quote marks:
Then she said, "I did it because Henry said, 'I don't care what you do.' " [Directly quoted speech.]
If it's 'reported speech', the writer sums up what he or she thinks the direct quote was. A different punctuation convention is used to differentiate the 'reported speech' from 'direct speech'. E.g. Then she said, "I did it because Henry said, 'I don't care what you do".' Carefully note the ending punctuation here.
With all this being said, does anybody agree with the logic - and are all examples correct? This will really illuminate things for me.
Thanks.
Then she said, 'I did it because Henry said, "I don't care what you do".' [Henry might have said something similar to what she quoted but not exactly those words - thus the period falls outside of the double quote marks. But if she quoted the exact, verbatim words of Henry, the full stop would fall within the ending quote marks like this:
... what you do." ']
In reports and stories it is often necessary to tell the reader what someone has said. If the words are quoted exactly as spoken, it is 'direct speech'. In writing this is shown by different punctuation.
The full stop falls INSIDE the ending quote marks:
Then she said, "I did it because Henry said, 'I don't care what you do.' " [Directly quoted speech.]
If it's 'reported speech', the writer sums up what he or she thinks the direct quote was. A different punctuation convention is used to differentiate the 'reported speech' from 'direct speech'. E.g. Then she said, "I did it because Henry said, 'I don't care what you do".' Carefully note the ending punctuation here.
With all this being said, does anybody agree with the logic - and are all examples correct? This will really illuminate things for me.
Thanks.
Top answer
Direct speech is a direct quotation of someone’s speech and it is in quotation marks. Any punctuation, such as question marks and full stops are inside the quotation marks. ” Reported speech is not put in quotation marks.
- Direct speech is a direct quotation of someone’s speech and it is in quotation marks.
- Any punctuation, such as question marks and full stops are inside the quotation marks.
- ” Reported speech is not put in quotation marks.
- Henry said that he did not care what I did.
- Hope this helps LouiseT
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2 Answers
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Direct speech is a direct quotation of someone’s speech and it is in quotation marks. Any punctuation, such as question marks and full stops are inside the quotation marks. Per your example :-
Henry said, “I don't care what you do.”
Reported speech is not put in quotation marks.
Henry said that he did not care what I did.
Hope this
Henry said, “I don't care what you do.”
Reported speech is not put in quotation marks.
Henry said that he did not care what I did.
Hope this
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