Search results for 'tag:Quotation marks tag:Direct speech' matching tags 'Quotation marks' and 'Direct speech'

Re: Difference between Say and Said

Mister Micawber — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:03:11 GMT

.
She says "What time will you be home?"
She said "What time will you be home?"

Neither of those are reported speech. They are both direct speech, the first spoken in the present and the second spoken in the past. Reported speech does not have quotation marks, but looks like this:

She asked what time I would be home.

Direct: She said "The postman is late again."
Reported: She said that the postman was late again.

Re: Quotations, commas, and capitalization

Akavall — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:28:17 GMT

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: âWhen a man yields to the urge of Ishmael . . .â "

So it seems that colon works too, but I am not sure that the example here and the one on wikipedia are dealing with identical situations.

Re: Question Regardig Quotes

Clive — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:27:09 GMT

Hi,

Can someone please help me. I'm trying to figure out the correct way of typing this:

She asked us: what do we think?

She asked us, "What do we think?"

I want to use the quotes but keep telling myself, it's not really a quote since it doesn't read, "What do you think?"

If you want to use quotation marks, you need to quote something.

Direct speech - She asked us, "What do you think?"

Indirect speech - She asked us what we thought.

You need to choose one or the other.

Clive

Re: What do you mean I lost?

Clive — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:17:57 GMT

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, but I lost.

B: What do you mean, "I lost"?

A: My chess clock ran out of time before I could move.

Here's another approach, which is the thought I originally had. I admit that I may perhaps be on weak ground here, but here's what I was thinking. We sometimes use quotation marks to draw attention to the fact that we are sceptical about the word or phrase we are using. eg Tom told Mary that he 'loved' her. This suggests that the speaker doesn't believe Tom. That's why I put quotes around the phrase 'I lost', to show that the speaker was highly sceptical about the assertion. I should probably have put single quotes rather than double.

One final thought. If you don't put a comma after 'mean', the phrase 'I lost'' seems to be associated with 'what'. eg

A: What do you mean I lost?

B: I mean you lost your camera / faith / opportunity / etc.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: What do you mean I lost?

Teo — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:55:41 GMT

Clive wrote:
1. 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?

Re: Help

Philip — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 03:44:42 GMT

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 with this. Sarah, along with her teammates, are competing in a weekend tennis tounrament. is

When she purchased the Kellogg's Cereal, she noticed the contest advertised on the back of the box. After purchasing

Sheila said that "she wasn't interested in going on the skiing trip." No quotation marks....indirect speech.

With each step she took down the path, Carrie became more frightened. Comma needed.

Please help, im not very good in English!!

I hope this helps.

Re: Why does a comma go before the closing quotation mark?

Clive — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 23:08:55 GMT

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 must be a grammatical reason for this convention. Does anybody know?

There are various style guides that discuss this kind of thing in detail.

Here is the way I think about it.

Mandy may not have paused for breath, but she would have slightly paused. I'd write the direct speech as "I'm sorry, Gaz, but it's just not working out. It's not you; it's me." The period represents a pause.

If you add said Mandy as in the sentence above, it looks odd to precede it by a period, so a comma is normally used instead.

Best wishes, Clive

Why does a comma go before the closing quotation mark?

Grammarfanatic — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 22:06:47 GMT

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 there must be a grammatical reason for this convention. Does anybody know?

Thanks
GF

Re: is this sentence correct

Marius Hancu — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:26:52 GMT

IMO, this type of colon is similar to:
--------

the segmental colon : introduces a direct speech, in combination with quotation marks and dashes.

This ... was once a common means of indicating an unmarked quotation on the same line (from the Fowlers' grammar book, The King's English)

Benjamin Franklin proclaimed the virtue of frugality:â A penny saved is a penny earned.
---------

Re: what does that " gotcha" means?

Clive — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 04:38:24 GMT

Hi,

When I wrote I gotta cook dinner = I have to cook dinner,

I actually meant to write I gotta cook dinner = I have got to cook dinner.

american don't use it "gotta"? I didn't say they don't use it.

i saw it on the harrpy potter and sorcerer's stone while i was reading I hope it was in quotation marks, to show that the author was trying to imitate the sounds of direct speech. If you start writing 'gotta' in your English writing exam, you are going to lose marks.

Best wishes again, Clive