Most of the time, especially in spoken English, we don't use quoted speech. Instead, we use reported speech. This is when we tell what someone said, without giving exact words. In reported speech, we do not need to use quotation marks.

Mark: "I think my dog has fleas."

Tina: "I think one of the fleas just jumped onto you."

If you were writing about this conversation, it might be appropriate to use quoted speech.

When Mark saw Tina, he said, "I think my dog has fleas." Tina responded, "I think one of the fleas just jumped onto you."

This sounds very formal and we often don't use quoted speech like this. Instead, we often use reported speech. Look what the same sentences look like as reported speech.

When Mark saw Tina, he said that he thought his dog had fleas. Tina responded that she thought one of the fleas had just jumped onto Mark.


Unlock full access by logging in. Registered users can explore the entire lesson and more.

Exercises

keyboard_arrow_up