sentences in reported speech
How to rewrite each of the sentences in reported speech?
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" [asked bob / bob asked]
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" [asked my mother / my mother asked]
reported-speech
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How to rewrite each of the sentences in reported speech?
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" [asked bob / bob asked]
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" [asked my mother / my mother asked]
reported-speech
migrated from english.stackexchange.com yesterday
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday
add a comment |
How to rewrite each of the sentences in reported speech?
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" [asked bob / bob asked]
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" [asked my mother / my mother asked]
reported-speech
How to rewrite each of the sentences in reported speech?
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" [asked bob / bob asked]
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" [asked my mother / my mother asked]
reported-speech
reported-speech
asked yesterday
nntp
migrated from english.stackexchange.com yesterday
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
migrated from english.stackexchange.com yesterday
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday
add a comment |
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday
add a comment |
2 Answers
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"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" bob asked.
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" asked my mother.
add a comment |
Those little statements, like "Bob asked" and "he said", are referred to as speech tags. They go with reported speech or dialogue as little labels indicating who said something, and in what manner they said it. They can be positioned as postfix, prefix or infix tags, which is to say they can go after the speech, before the speech, or in the middle of it:
"Hello," said Bob.
My mother asked, "what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?"
"What," she growled, "did you say to that policeman?"
In the simple case, where the tag consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb indicating the manner of speech, it can take the form said Bob or it can take the form Bob said. Either is grammatically correct in any of the three positions and with any verb. However, the position and the choice of verb change which seems natural to a notice speaker (and that also depends on the dialect of the native speaker, too). The three examples above are the most natural way of saying it in my dialect and with those verbs. Asked my mother, "what did you say to the policeman?" is not incorrect, but seems stilted and possibly archaic. On the other hand, that same sentence with the speech tag postfixed seems natural either way around. Similarly, "Hello," Bob said can seem slightly off, though not as badly as the prefixed asked my mother. Though if you're using pronouns, like he, she, and I, you would almost always put them before the verb - "he said" would be used in almost all cases rather than "said he", for natural speech or writing. At least, in my native dialect.
Of course, context can also impact things. If someone is reporting what someone else told them, but doing so in speech, what is natural changes. If you wish to say that Bob once told you the sea was poisonous, and were doing so in speech rather than writing, you might well say "the sea's poisonous, Bob said". That is not then a speech tag, but rather an attribution of where you got that information. In writing, it would be usual to use a more formal sentence structure, as the expectations of English grammar do vary between written and spoken English.
In your two examples, either way is correct, but in the first "said Bob" is more natural and in the second "asked my mother is more natural" - in my native dialect. Conventions about what is natural can vary a lot between dialects.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
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"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" bob asked.
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" asked my mother.
add a comment |
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" bob asked.
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" asked my mother.
add a comment |
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" bob asked.
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" asked my mother.
"what time does the post office open on a Saturday?" bob asked.
"what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?" asked my mother.
answered yesterday
nntp
add a comment |
add a comment |
Those little statements, like "Bob asked" and "he said", are referred to as speech tags. They go with reported speech or dialogue as little labels indicating who said something, and in what manner they said it. They can be positioned as postfix, prefix or infix tags, which is to say they can go after the speech, before the speech, or in the middle of it:
"Hello," said Bob.
My mother asked, "what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?"
"What," she growled, "did you say to that policeman?"
In the simple case, where the tag consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb indicating the manner of speech, it can take the form said Bob or it can take the form Bob said. Either is grammatically correct in any of the three positions and with any verb. However, the position and the choice of verb change which seems natural to a notice speaker (and that also depends on the dialect of the native speaker, too). The three examples above are the most natural way of saying it in my dialect and with those verbs. Asked my mother, "what did you say to the policeman?" is not incorrect, but seems stilted and possibly archaic. On the other hand, that same sentence with the speech tag postfixed seems natural either way around. Similarly, "Hello," Bob said can seem slightly off, though not as badly as the prefixed asked my mother. Though if you're using pronouns, like he, she, and I, you would almost always put them before the verb - "he said" would be used in almost all cases rather than "said he", for natural speech or writing. At least, in my native dialect.
Of course, context can also impact things. If someone is reporting what someone else told them, but doing so in speech, what is natural changes. If you wish to say that Bob once told you the sea was poisonous, and were doing so in speech rather than writing, you might well say "the sea's poisonous, Bob said". That is not then a speech tag, but rather an attribution of where you got that information. In writing, it would be usual to use a more formal sentence structure, as the expectations of English grammar do vary between written and spoken English.
In your two examples, either way is correct, but in the first "said Bob" is more natural and in the second "asked my mother is more natural" - in my native dialect. Conventions about what is natural can vary a lot between dialects.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Those little statements, like "Bob asked" and "he said", are referred to as speech tags. They go with reported speech or dialogue as little labels indicating who said something, and in what manner they said it. They can be positioned as postfix, prefix or infix tags, which is to say they can go after the speech, before the speech, or in the middle of it:
"Hello," said Bob.
My mother asked, "what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?"
"What," she growled, "did you say to that policeman?"
In the simple case, where the tag consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb indicating the manner of speech, it can take the form said Bob or it can take the form Bob said. Either is grammatically correct in any of the three positions and with any verb. However, the position and the choice of verb change which seems natural to a notice speaker (and that also depends on the dialect of the native speaker, too). The three examples above are the most natural way of saying it in my dialect and with those verbs. Asked my mother, "what did you say to the policeman?" is not incorrect, but seems stilted and possibly archaic. On the other hand, that same sentence with the speech tag postfixed seems natural either way around. Similarly, "Hello," Bob said can seem slightly off, though not as badly as the prefixed asked my mother. Though if you're using pronouns, like he, she, and I, you would almost always put them before the verb - "he said" would be used in almost all cases rather than "said he", for natural speech or writing. At least, in my native dialect.
Of course, context can also impact things. If someone is reporting what someone else told them, but doing so in speech, what is natural changes. If you wish to say that Bob once told you the sea was poisonous, and were doing so in speech rather than writing, you might well say "the sea's poisonous, Bob said". That is not then a speech tag, but rather an attribution of where you got that information. In writing, it would be usual to use a more formal sentence structure, as the expectations of English grammar do vary between written and spoken English.
In your two examples, either way is correct, but in the first "said Bob" is more natural and in the second "asked my mother is more natural" - in my native dialect. Conventions about what is natural can vary a lot between dialects.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Those little statements, like "Bob asked" and "he said", are referred to as speech tags. They go with reported speech or dialogue as little labels indicating who said something, and in what manner they said it. They can be positioned as postfix, prefix or infix tags, which is to say they can go after the speech, before the speech, or in the middle of it:
"Hello," said Bob.
My mother asked, "what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?"
"What," she growled, "did you say to that policeman?"
In the simple case, where the tag consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb indicating the manner of speech, it can take the form said Bob or it can take the form Bob said. Either is grammatically correct in any of the three positions and with any verb. However, the position and the choice of verb change which seems natural to a notice speaker (and that also depends on the dialect of the native speaker, too). The three examples above are the most natural way of saying it in my dialect and with those verbs. Asked my mother, "what did you say to the policeman?" is not incorrect, but seems stilted and possibly archaic. On the other hand, that same sentence with the speech tag postfixed seems natural either way around. Similarly, "Hello," Bob said can seem slightly off, though not as badly as the prefixed asked my mother. Though if you're using pronouns, like he, she, and I, you would almost always put them before the verb - "he said" would be used in almost all cases rather than "said he", for natural speech or writing. At least, in my native dialect.
Of course, context can also impact things. If someone is reporting what someone else told them, but doing so in speech, what is natural changes. If you wish to say that Bob once told you the sea was poisonous, and were doing so in speech rather than writing, you might well say "the sea's poisonous, Bob said". That is not then a speech tag, but rather an attribution of where you got that information. In writing, it would be usual to use a more formal sentence structure, as the expectations of English grammar do vary between written and spoken English.
In your two examples, either way is correct, but in the first "said Bob" is more natural and in the second "asked my mother is more natural" - in my native dialect. Conventions about what is natural can vary a lot between dialects.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Those little statements, like "Bob asked" and "he said", are referred to as speech tags. They go with reported speech or dialogue as little labels indicating who said something, and in what manner they said it. They can be positioned as postfix, prefix or infix tags, which is to say they can go after the speech, before the speech, or in the middle of it:
"Hello," said Bob.
My mother asked, "what did you say to the policeman when he stopped you?"
"What," she growled, "did you say to that policeman?"
In the simple case, where the tag consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb indicating the manner of speech, it can take the form said Bob or it can take the form Bob said. Either is grammatically correct in any of the three positions and with any verb. However, the position and the choice of verb change which seems natural to a notice speaker (and that also depends on the dialect of the native speaker, too). The three examples above are the most natural way of saying it in my dialect and with those verbs. Asked my mother, "what did you say to the policeman?" is not incorrect, but seems stilted and possibly archaic. On the other hand, that same sentence with the speech tag postfixed seems natural either way around. Similarly, "Hello," Bob said can seem slightly off, though not as badly as the prefixed asked my mother. Though if you're using pronouns, like he, she, and I, you would almost always put them before the verb - "he said" would be used in almost all cases rather than "said he", for natural speech or writing. At least, in my native dialect.
Of course, context can also impact things. If someone is reporting what someone else told them, but doing so in speech, what is natural changes. If you wish to say that Bob once told you the sea was poisonous, and were doing so in speech rather than writing, you might well say "the sea's poisonous, Bob said". That is not then a speech tag, but rather an attribution of where you got that information. In writing, it would be usual to use a more formal sentence structure, as the expectations of English grammar do vary between written and spoken English.
In your two examples, either way is correct, but in the first "said Bob" is more natural and in the second "asked my mother is more natural" - in my native dialect. Conventions about what is natural can vary a lot between dialects.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
answered yesterday
SamBCSamBC
3038
3038
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
SamBC is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
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I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because there is no research on how reported speech works.
– Lambie
yesterday