English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009
15 Indirect Quotation
Part 3 Sentences
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: Tom said, “My parents are going to Malta this summer.”
Indirect: 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.
• The indirect quotation uses that to introduce the quoted material. Direct quotation cannot use that in this manner.
• In the direct quotation, the quoted material begins with a capital letter; in the indirect quotation, the paraphrased material begins with a lowercase letter.
• The tenses in the two quotations are different. The direct quotation is in the present tense. The indirect quotation is in the past tense.
• There is a difference in pronouns. The my in the direct quotation shifts to his in the indirect quotation.
The use of that is especially significant because sometimes it is the only way we can tell the difference between direct and indirect quotation. For example, could you use quotation marks with the following sentence?
Bill said that his parents had enjoyed their trip to Malta.
The answer is that you could not because that signals an indirect quotation. We can never use that with direct quotation. One of the characteristics of that clauses (including that clauses used in indirect quotation) is that we may optionally delete that. However, deleting that in indirect quotation is a really bad idea because that is one of the best ways to distinguish direct and indirect quotation. Accordingly, in the following discussion, we will always retain that in indirect quotation.
Compare the following direct and indirect quotations:
Direct: She said, “I am going home soon.”
Indirect: She said that she was going home soon.
The direct quotation is in the present progressive tense (am going). In the indirect quotation, the verb has shifted to the past progressive tense (was going). The standard name for this is back- shifting. Moving from direct quotation to indirect quotation involves a surprisingly elaborate set of backshifts from present tenses to past tenses, and from past tenses to past perfect tenses. The basic rule is this:
Present tenses → past tenses
Past tenses → past perfect tenses
Here are some examples of present tenses backshifting to past tenses:
Present tense → past tense
Direct: He said, “I have to go.”
Indirect: He said that he had to go.
Present progressive → past progressive
Direct: He said, “I am leaving soon.”
Indirect: He said that he was leaving soon.
Present perfect → past perfect
Direct: He said, “We have been gone a long time.”
Indirect: He said that they had been gone a long time.
Present modal → past modal
Direct: They said, “We will see him tomorrow.”
Indirect: They said that they would see him tomorrow.
Exercise 15.1
Convert the following direct quotations to indirect quotations. Be sure to use that in the indirect quotations.
Jim said, “The computer paper is stored in the bottom drawer.”
Jim said that the computer paper was stored in the bottom drawer.
1. Alice said, “The company hosts the annual meeting in Las Vegas this year.”
2. Tom said, “Francine has decided to move to Chicago.”
3. I said, “Tom will meet us as soon as possible.”
4. Ralph said, “Everyone has enjoyed the visit.”
5. The TV said, “The storm may move up the coastline.”
6. My mom said, “Everyone is looking forward to meeting Barbara.”
7. Bill said, “The keys are kept next to the backdoor.”
8. Terry said, “We can still get reservations for the weekend.”
9. The contractor said, “The electricians will finish the wiring Friday.”
10. I said, “I know you are right.”
Here are some examples of backshifted past tenses:
Past tense → past perfect tense
Direct: I said, “I was a little disappointed.”
Indirect: I said that I had been a little disappointed.
Past progressive → past perfect progressive
Direct: She said, “I was looking forward to it.”
Indirect: She said that she had been looking forward to it.
Past perfect: no change possible because sentence is already in past perfect tense
Direct: They said, “Bill had made a reservation.”
Indirect: They said that Bill had made a reservation.
Past modal: no change possible because there are no past perfect modals Direct:
We said, “Sam would take care of it.”
Indirect: We said that Sam would take care of it.
Exercise 15.2
Convert the following direct quotations to indirect quotations. Be sure to use that in the indirect quotations.
She said, “Ron already filled out the forms.”
She said that Ron had already filled out the forms.
1. He said, “They have really done a great job.”
2. I said, “We were busy all afternoon.”
3. Rudy said, “We saw a terrific movie Saturday.”
4. Mom said, “The rain was pouring down all afternoon.”
5. The mechanic said, “Jack was working on our car.”
6. The bank said, “The check has been deposited already.”
7. Alice said, “They have already made plans for dinner.”
8. He said, “We helped our kids move into their new apartment.”
9. Marion said, “I was watching TV when you called.”
10. Francis said, “Bob pulled a muscle exercising.”
Indirect quotation requires a number of adjustments in the reference of first and second person pronouns. Here are the most common shifts that may cause problems for nonnative speakers:
First person to third
Direct: He said, “I will introduce Sally to the group at lunch.”
Indirect: He said that he would introduce Sally to the group at lunch.
Second person to third
Direct: She said, “You are making a big mistake.”
Indirect: She said that he/she was making a big mistake.
We see the same kind of shift in reflexive and possessive pronouns. For example:
First person to third
Direct: He said, “I just cut myself on my arm.”
Indirect: He said that he had just cut himself on his arm.
Second person to third
Direct: She said, “You made a fool of yourself in your memo.”
Indirect: She said that he/she had made a fool of himself/herself in his/her memo.
Exercise 15.3
Convert the following direct quotations to indirect quotations.
Sue said, “I am worried about meeting my deadline.”
Sue said that she was worried about meeting her deadline.
1. He said, “I may be able to arrange a meeting with my manager.”
2. I said, “It was a good idea to talk to you.”
3. The postman said, “You need to mail your package before five.”
4. Bob said, “The paint in my living room is drying properly.”
5. Jane said, “I was just talking to my mother.”
6. He said, “I will be staying at home tomorrow.”
7. She told Paul, “You can count on me.”
8. Ruth told me, “I am not ready to get rid of my car yet.”
9. Alice told her son, “You have been staying up too late talking to your friends.”
10. My wife reminded me, “I am having dinner with my friend after work.”
In many languages, indirect questions merely repeat the original direct questions after the verb of reporting. Speakers of those languages sometimes carry over into English that way of forming indirect questions. Here is an example of such an error with a yes-no question:
Direct: He asked, “Are you finished?”
Indirect: X He asked are you finished?
English uses if and (less commonly) whether in forming indirect yes-no questions. For example:
Direct: He asked, “Are you finished?”
Indirect: He asked if you were finished.
Indirect: He asked whether you were finished.
Notice that the indirect question is punctuated with a period rather than a question mark.
There are also two other changes between direct and indirect questions. One of the changes is not new: the backshifting of is to was.
The other change in the indirect question is new: changing the question word order of verb + subject (are you in this example) in the direct quotation to the statement word order of subject + verb (you were) in the indirect quotation.
Here are some more examples of the changed word order of indirect yes-no questions with the first verb in bold and the subject in italics:
Direct: He asked, “Can we go now?”
Indirect: He asked if we could go now.
Direct: He asked, “Have you finished?”
Indirect: He asked if you had finished.
Direct: He asked, “Are they OK?”
Indirect: He asked if they were OK.
If the yes-no question uses the dummy helping verb do, the form of the indirect question changes in a surprising way. For example:
Direct: He asked, “Does John know where we are going?”
Indirect: He asked if John knew where we were going.
The dummy helping verb do has disappeared from the indirect question. The reason is essentially a side effect of changing the question word order of verb + subject in the direct question back to the statement word order of subject + verb in the indirect question. Here in slow motion is what happens when we reverse the positions of the dummy helping verb do and the subject in our example sentence:
Does John know . . . → John does know . . .
Now the dummy helping verb do and the present tense marker it carries have been put back in front of the main verb know. Since the present tense marker is now next to a real verb (know), there is no longer any need for the dummy verb do to carry the present tense marker, and so do disappears.
John does know . . . → John — knows
Finally, we have to change knows to knew according to the basic rule of backshifting in indirect questions.
John — knows . . . → John knew
Here are some more examples with the helping verb do:
Direct: She asked, “Does Sally plan to join us?”
Indirect: She asked if Sally planned to join them.
Direct: They asked, “Did Fred call the meeting?”
Indirect: They asked if Fred had called the meeting.
Exercise 15.4
Change the following direct quotation yes-no questions to their corresponding indirect question forms.
He asked Tim, “Are you tired after your trip?”
He asked Tim if he were tired after his trip.
1. He asked me, “Will you be able to come to the reception?”
2. I asked the kids, “Did you set the table for six people?”
3. He asked, “Has Ruth written her essay yet?”
4. They asked Bob, “Is it true that you are moving to Dallas?”
5. She asked me, “Do you work at J.P. Morgan?”
6. They asked us, “Is the reception starting at six?”
7. I asked, “Has the coach announced when the game starts?”
8. She asked me, “Will you turn off the lights in your office?”
9. I asked them, “Did you hear the news?”
10. He asked, “Is Tina leaving for Seattle Sunday?”
11. The waiter asked me, “Did you have a reservation?”
12. The receptionist asked me, “Are we holding your mail while you are away?”
13. He asked me, “Do you have any idea how late you are?”
14. I asked Sarah, “Can you return the book to the library for me?”
15. I asked my brother, “Did Mom give you a call about the party?”
The formation of indirect information questions is much like the formation of indirect yes- no questions. Here is an example:
Direct: He asked, “Where are the kids going?”
Indirect: He asked where the kids were going.
The one difference is that indirect information questions do not use if or whether. Everything else is the same: the verb + subject word order of the direct question changes to the statement word order of subject + verb.
Here are two more examples:
Direct: She asked, “Why is it so hot in here?”
Indirect: She asked why it was so hot in there.
Direct: They asked, “Whom should we contact?”
Indirect: They asked whom we should contact.
If the interrogative pronoun happens to play the role of the subject, then the direct question has a special word order in which the subject (the interrogative pronoun) and the verb are already in statement word order (rather than the expected question word order). For example:
Direct: He asked, “Who gave us the information?”
The subject who is in front of the verb gave. In other words, the word order of the direct question is exactly the same as the word order of the indirect question:
Indirect: He asked who had given us the information.
The peculiar word order results from the fact that the interrogative pronoun is also the subject. In all other cases, the interrogative pronoun plays the role of object or adverb, and as such, the interrogative pronoun plays no role in subject + verb word order issues.
As we would expect, when the direct question uses the dummy helping verb do, the do will disappear from the indirect question for exactly the same reasons it disappears from indirect yes- no questions. For example:
Direct: He asked, “When does the movie start?”
Indirect: He asked when the movie started.
When the tense marker is moved back to the first real verb, there is no need for the dummy do to continue to carry the tense marker, and so do disappears.
Here are some more examples involving do:
Direct: John asked, “What did Sally say?”
Indirect: John asked what Sally said.
Direct: John asked, “Whom did Bob want to see?”
Indirect: John asked whom Bob wanted to see.
Exercise 15.5
Change the following direct quotation information questions to their corresponding indirect question forms.
Kerry asked, “Why did you want to know that?”
Kerry asked why I wanted to know that.
1. Sam asked Harriet, “When will she begin the lesson?”
2. I asked him, “How often do you go shopping?”
3. They asked me, “Why did you want to move back to the city?”
4. She asked him, “Where did you park the car?”
5. I asked her, “Whom were you looking for?”
6. He asked the waitress, “How long will we wait before getting a table?”
7. She asked the children, “What story do you want to hear?”
8. He asked us, “How come the class broke up so early?”
9. She asked us, “Who knows where the library is?”
10. The cabdriver asked me, “Where do you want me to take you?”