In Quotation marks^x, Commas^x, Direct speech^x

Hi, When you are writing down what someone said, can we use a comma in place of the word 'that'? Good morning, John. Hi, Sue. Hi ... Uh, what are you doing? You know, it is not allowed to smoke here. Don't smoke here, please. I assume you are talking about direct speech. When you...

Maybe the colon use is not American, but is it OK to use it? According to wikipedia (on colon usage): "segmental : introduces a direct speech , in combination with quotation marks and dashes . .. Julian Duguid , author of Green Hell (1931), starts his book boldly: “When a man yields to...

Hi, What do you mean, "I lost"? I hit the ball in first! What do you mean I lost? (Quoted from a dictionary) Why use quotation marks? It's indirect speech, isn't it? True, in that scenario. But in this one, it's direct speech. A: I had a winning position on the chess board,...

ScienceNerd wrote: Okay, I'm stuck on my English homework. On my first problem it says I'm really looking forward to my Algebra class with Miss Fink. Whats wrong with that? I see nothing wrong. As you can see im not very good in English. I also have a few more questions. Whats wrong...

Hi, Why does a comma go before the second set of quotation marks? For example: "I'm sorry Gaz, but it's just not working out," said Mandy. "It's not you; it's me." It seems arbitrary that a comma should be part of the direct speech. My character Mandy hasn't paused for breath! I'm sure there...

Hello, all. Why does a comma go before the second set of quotation marks? For example: "I'm sorry Gaz, but it's just not working out," said Mandy. "It's not you; it's me." It seems arbitrary that a comma should be part of the direct speech. My character Mandy hasn't paused for breath! I'm sure...

1. No, I wouldn't use the comma there; "is the pronounciation" is very directly related to "one thing". 2. Yes, you need the question mark in the sentence such as you've written it: the "" say it's direct speech. Reported speech - without quotation marks / question mark- would have been: "but...