English Grammar Drills

15
Indirect Quotation
There are two forms of quotation: direct and indirect. Direct quotation uses quotation marks
to signal that we are repeating someone’s words exactly as the person said or wrote them. In this
chapter we will discuss how to correctly use indirect quotation—quotation without the use of
quotation marks. An indirect quotation is putting someone else’s words into your own sentence.
While indirect quotation allows a certain amount of freedom in how the writer reports the words
of someone else, this freedom of expression does not release the writer from full responsibility for
accurately reporting the content of what is being reported.
Indirect quotations consist of a verb of reporting followed by a noun clause beginning with
that (a that clause—see Chapter 7). For example:
Pinker argues that the brains of mammals follow a common general plan.
In this example, the that clause is the object of the verb argues.
Indirect quotation is very different from direct quotation. To see the differences, compare
the following quotes:
Direct:
Indirect:
Tom said, “My parents are going to Malta this summer.”
Tom said that his parents were going to Malta this summer.
If you look closely, you will see a number of differences between the two types of quotations.
• The most obvious and important difference is the use of quotation marks. If a quotation
is in quotation marks, it is a direct quote. If it is not in quotation marks, it is an indirect
quotation.
• Both direct and indirect quotations use the same verb said to introduce the quote, but in
the case of direct quotation, said is separated from the quoted material by a comma. No comma
is used in the indirect quote.
259