Editing Quotation (section)

==Comparison between direct, indirect, and free indirect speech==
* '''Quoted''' or '''direct speech''':{{efn|name=TerminologicalNote|Both direct speech and indirect speech purport to report the speech or thoughts of an original speaker. Some writers use the terms ''reported direct speech'' and ''reported indirect speech''<ref name="Huddleston 2002 p1023">{{Cite book|quote='''Direct reported speech''' purports to give the actual wording of the original, whereas '''indirect reported speech''' gives only its content. ...[Note:] Some writers omit the 'reported' and simply talk of 'direct speech' and 'indirect speech', while others restrict the term 'reported speech' to the indirect type; we believe, however, that it is useful to have a term for covering both. Further alternative terms for direct and indirect reported speech are 'oratio recta' and 'oratio obliqua', respectively. |pages=1023–1030|last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |authorlink1=Rodney Huddleston|last2= Pullum |first2= Geoffrey |authorlink2=Geoffrey Pullum|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge; New York |isbn=0-521-43146-8}}</ref>}}
''Direct speech'' and ''indirect speech'' can also refer to the difference between speech acts where the [[illocutionary force]] is conveyed directly and indirectly, respectively. Thus, "What time is it?" is a direct speech act that might also be expressed by the indirect speech act "Do you know what time it is?"<ref name="Huddleston 2002 p861">{{Cite book|pages=861–865|last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |authorlink1=Rodney Huddleston|last2= Pullum |first2= Geoffrey |authorlink2=Geoffrey Pullum|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge; New York |isbn=0-521-43146-8}}</ref>

:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. "And just what pleasure have I found since I came into this world?" he asked.
* '''Reported''' or normal '''[[indirect speech]]''':{{efn|name=TerminologicalNote}}

:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. He asked himself what pleasure he had found since he came into the world.
* '''[[Free indirect speech]]''':{{efn|name=TerminologicalNote}}
:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. And just what pleasure had he found since he came into this world?

A crucial semantic distinction between direct and indirect speech is that direct speech purports to report the exact words that were said or written, whereas indirect speech is a representation of speech in one's own words.<ref name="Leech">{{cite book|pages=[https://archive.org/details/glossaryenglishg00leec/page/n40 34], 101 |last1=Leech |first1=Geoffrey|title=A Glossary of English Grammar|url=https://archive.org/details/glossaryenglishg00leec |url-access=limited |year=2006 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-1729-6}}</ref>

The distinction between indirect speech and free indirect speech is mostly one of style, hence free indirect speech is sometimes described as a free indirect style.