Avoiding confusion
If a quotation or a title is used by someone who is speaking,
use double inverted commasfor the quotations to avoid
confusion:
‘I think the proverb ‘‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’’
is quite right,’ David said crossly.
‘I wanted to see ‘‘The Little Princess’’ but the last
performance was yesterday,’ Alison remarked sadly.
‘Have you seen the film ‘‘Babe’’?’ asked John.
‘No, but I’m going to see the new ‘‘Dr Who’’,’ replied
Sarah.In the last two examples the titles are at the end of the
speech so thequotation marksare closed first. These are
followed by the punctuation mark and finally by the inverted
commas which close the speech.
Changing to indirect speech
Indirect speech or reported speech needs no inverted
commas as the actual words are not used.
Direct speech:
‘Cathy’s accepted the invitation,’ said Ruth.
Indirect speech:
Ruth said that Cathy had accepted the invitation.
Direct speech:
‘I want to go to the town,’ she said.
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