‘Darling’, Max said to her, ‘don’t say it’s not possible.’
Maybe, he said hesitantly, maybe there is a beast.
‘I know you don’t remember your father,’ said James, ‘but he was a kind and generous man.’
7.24 You can use most reporting verbs in front of a quote.
She replied, My first thought was to protect him.
One student commented: He seems to know his subject very well.
However, the reporting verbs agree, command, promise, and wonder are hardly ever used in front of a quote.
changing the order of the subject and the reporting verb
7.25 When a reporting verb comes after a quote, the subject is often put after the verb.
‘Perhaps he isn’t a bad sort of chap after all,’ remarked Dave.
I see, said John.
I am aware of that, replied the Englishman.
Note that this is not done when the subject is a pronoun, except in some literary contexts.
punctuation of quotes
7.26 The following examples show how you punctuate quotes in British English. You can use either single quotation marks (‘ ’) or double quotation marks (“ ”). The ones used to begin a quote are called opening quotation marks, and the ones used to end a quote are called closing quotation marks.
‘Let’s go,’ I whispered.
“We have to go home,” she told him.
Mona’s mother answered: ‘Oh yes, she’s in.’
He nodded and said, ‘Yes, he’s my son.’
‘Margaret’, I said to her, ‘I’m so glad you came.’
What are you doing? Sarah asked.
‘Of course it’s awful!’ shouted Clarissa.
What do they mean, she demanded, by a “population problem”?
Note that in the last example shown above, there is a quote within a quote. If you are using single quotation marks for the main quote, the quoted words within the main quote are enclosed in double quotation marks. If you are using double quotation marks for the main quote, the quoted words within the main quote are enclosed in single quotation marks.
“What are you doing?” Sarah asked.
“What do they mean,” she demanded, “by a ‘population problem’?”
If you are quoting more than one paragraph, you put opening quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but you put closing quotation marks only at the end of the last paragraph.
Reporting in your own words: reported speech
7.27 When you report what people have said using your own words rather than the words they actually used, you use reported speech.
The woman said she had seen nothing.
I replied that I had not read it yet.
You usually use a reported speech structure when you report what someone thinks.
He thought she was worried.
Reported speech is sometimes called indirect speech. Reported speech consists of two parts. One part is the reporting clause, which contains the reporting verb.
I told him that nothing was going to happen to me.
I have agreed that he should do it.
I wanted to be alone.
The other part is the reported clause.
He answered that he thought the story was extremely interesting.
He felt that he had to do something.
He wondered where they could have come from.
You usually put the reporting clause first, in order to make it clear that you are reporting rather than speaking directly yourself.
Henry said that he wanted to go home.
The exact words that Henry used are unlikely to have been I want to go home, although they might have been. It is more likely that he said something like I think I should be going now. You are more likely to report what he meant rather than what he actually said.
There are many reasons why you do not quote a person’s exact words. Often you cannot remember exactly what was said. At other times, the exact words are not important or not appropriate in the situation in which you are reporting.
types of reported clause
7.28 There are several types of reported clause. The type you use depends on whether you are reporting a statement, a question, an order, or a suggestion.
Most reported clauses either are that-clauses or begin with a to-infinitive. When a question is being reported, the reported clause begins with if, whether, or a wh-word. The use of that-clauses as reported clauses is discussed in paragraphs 7.29 to 7.31. Reported questions are discussed in paragraphs 7.32 to 7.38. The use of to-infinitive clauses in reported speech is discussed in paragraphs 7.39 to 7.48.
Reporting statements and thoughts
7.29 If you want to report a statement or someone’s thoughts, you use a reported clause beginning with the conjunction that.
He said that the police had directed him to the wrong room.
He wrote me a letter saying that he understood what I was doing.
Mrs Kaul announced that the lecture would now begin.
In informal speech and writing, the conjunction that is commonly omitted.
They said I had to see a doctor first.
She says she wants to see you this afternoon.
He knew the attempt was hopeless.
I think there’s something wrong.
In each of these sentences, that could have been used. For example, you can say either They said I had to see a doctor first or They said that I had to see a doctor first.
That is often omitted when the reporting verb refers simply to the act of saying or thinking. You usually include that after a verb that gives more information, such as complain or explain.