discipleofWORD

I think I grew up with this mindset from school. Need to challenge this.

When you use the word "said," does what follow the word have to be in quotes?

Example:
The ice cream man said, "Let's sell lots of ice cream today."

And I'm told with the phrase "said that," it is a paraphasing without using quotations.

Example:
The ice cream man said that they need to sell a lot of ice cream today.

The word "said" could be replaced with "write / writes that" and so forth.

I need clarification on this. Thanks!

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Fixed

he said that he was gay

"I'm gay!" he said.

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Mike C

No you don't - you've got it. In the first instance you're quoting actual speech, and the words spoken go in inverted commas. In the second, it's reported speech, you are relating what was said by someone else, therefore no quotes.

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aspiring

Agreeing with Mike again (oh dear!)

The first one is direct speech, the second reported. Both are correct. In fiction, one tends to try to use direct speech more than reported, because of the 'show, not tell' technique. Using direct speech pulls the reader in more effectively. Reported speech can have the effect of distancing the reader. However, both have their place in the use of language.

mammamaia

me too, aspiring!... due to our time zone gap, he always gets there ahead of me, so i'm most often relegated to 'echo' status... oh, well... it does save me a lot of typing!

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