VIII. INDIRECT DISCOURSE
430. A quotation may be direct or indirect.
A direct quotation repeats a speech or thought in its original form.
- I replied: “I am sorry to hear it.”
- “Henceforth,” he explained, “I shall call on Tuesdays.”
- “You must see California,” she insisted.
- “Elizabeth no longer lives here,” he said.
- “I know nothing about it,” was the witness’s reply.
- “Where,” thought I, “are the crew?”[47]
An indirect quotation repeats a speech or thought in substance, but usually with some change in its form.
An indirect quotation, when a statement, is a subordinate clause dependent on some word of saying or thinking, and introduced by the conjunction that.
- I replied that I was sorry to hear it. [Direct: I am sorry.]
- He explained that henceforth he should call on Tuesdays.
- She insisted that I must see California.
A direct quotation begins with a capital letter, unless it is a fragment of a sentence. It is enclosed in quotation marks.
An indirect quotation begins with a small letter. It usually has no quotation marks.
431. A substantive clause introduced by that may be used with verbs and other expressions of telling, thinking, knowing, and perceiving, to report the words or thought of a person in substance, but usually with some change of form.