Direct and Indirect Quotations

Direct and Indirect Quotations

A "quotation" is the exact word or words that a person speaks. It's good to understand the difference between a direct quotation, the words you hear from someone speaking, and an indirect quotation, which are the words that someone else uses to describe another speaker. Confused? When you're confused it helps to look at an example.

Direct Quotation

"I need to go to the store," said my wife.

Indirect Quotation

My wife said that she needed to go to the store.

Notice that "said" is in the past tense, so the verb "need" also becomes past tense.

There's something called the "sequence of tenses" which is useful to look at now:

The Sequence of Tenses

Direct Speech Indirect Speech Present Past Present Continuous Past Continuous                     Past Past Perfect    Present Perfect Past Perfect           will would         can could         may might There are others that can be added, but this is a good start in learning that tenses change their form when using indirect speech. See the examples below.

examples

"I am a beekeeper."	What did he say? He said he was a beekeeper.
"I'm reading a book."	What did he say? He said that he was reading a book.
"I was afraid of spiders when I was a little girl."	What did she say? She said she had been afraid of spiders when she was a little girl.
"I have been in this same spot for an hour and I haven't caught a thing."	He said that he'd been in that same spot for an hour and he hadn't caught anything. (he'd been = had been)
"We enjoy making breakfast together."	They said that they enjoyed making breakfast together.
"I'll help you pick them up."	He said he would help her pick up the apples.
"He can eat an entire watermelon," his wife said.	His wife said that he could eat an entire watermelon.
"This radio may be over 70 years old," said the owner of the antique shop.	The owner of the antique shop said that the radio might be over 70 years old.