INDIRECT DISCOURSE.

 

Definitions.

 

447. Direct discourse—that is, a direct quotation or a direct question—means the identical words the writer or speaker used; as,—

 

"I hope you have not killed him?" said Amyas.—Kingsley.

 

Indirect discourse means reported speech,—the thoughts of a writer or speaker put in the words of the one reporting them.

Two samples of indirect discourse.

 

448. Indirect discourse may be of two kinds:—

 

(1) Following the thoughts and also the exact words as far as consistent with the rules of logical sequence of verbs.

 

(2) Merely a concise representation of the original words, not attempting to follow the entire quotation.

 

The following examples of both are from De Quincey:—

Indirect.

 

1. Reyes remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk as to that, but that he could oblige him by cutting his throat.

Direct.

 

His exact words were, "I cannot oblige you ..., but I can oblige you by cutting your throat."

 

Indirect.

 

Her prudence whispered eternally, that safety there was none for her until she had laid the Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's.

 

Direct.

 

She thought to herself, "Safety there is none for me until I have laid," etc.

Summary of the expressions.

 

2. Then he laid bare the unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. Oh, the unseen treasure that had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the untold sums of money that he had sunk in that unhappy speculation!

Direct synopsis.

 

The substance of his lamentation was, "Oh, unseen treasure has been spent upon that girl! Untold sums of money have I sunk," etc.

 

449. From these illustrations will be readily seen the grammatical changes made in transferring from direct to indirect discourse. Remember the following facts:—

 

(1) Usually the main, introductory verb is in the past tense.

 

(2) The indirect quotation is usually introduced by that, and the indirect question by whether or if, or regular interrogatives.

 

(3) Verbs in the present-tense form are changed to the past-tense form. This includes the auxiliaries be, have, will, etc. The past tense is sometimes changed to the past perfect.

 

(4) The pronouns of the first and second persons are all changed to the third person. Sometimes it is clearer to introduce the antecedent of the pronoun instead.

 

Other examples of indirect discourse have been given in Part I., under interrogative pronouns, interrogative adverbs, and the subjunctive mood of verbs.

 

Exercise.

 

Rewrite the following extract from Irving's "Sketch Book," and change it to a direct quotation:—

 

He assured the company that it was a fact, handed down from his ancestor the historian, that the Catskill Mountains had always been haunted by strange beings; that it was affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept a kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the Half-moon, being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep a guardian eye upon the river and the great city called by his name; that his father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses playing at ninepins in a hollow of the mountain; and that he himself had heard, one summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, like distant peals of thunder.

 

VERBALS.

 

PARTICIPLES.

 

Careless use of the participial phrase.

 

450. The following sentences illustrate a misuse of the participial phrase:—

 

Pleased with the "Pilgrim's Progress," my first collection was of John Bunyan's works.—B. Franklin.

 

My farm consisted of about twenty acres of excellent land, having given a hundred pounds for my predecessor's goodwill.—Goldsmith.

 

Upon asking how he had been taught the art of a cognoscente so suddenly, he assured me that nothing was more easy.—Id.

 

Having thus run through the causes of the sublime, my first observation will be found nearly true.—Burke

 

He therefore remained silent till he had repeated a paternoster, being the course which his confessor had enjoined.—Scott

 

Compare with these the following:—

A correct example.

 

Going yesterday to dine with an old acquaintance, I had the misfortune to find his whole family very much dejected.—Addison.

Notice this.

 

The trouble is, in the sentences first quoted, that the main subject of the sentence is not the same word that would be the subject of the participle, if this were expanded into a verb.

 

Correction.

 

Consequently one of two courses must be taken,—either change the participle to a verb with its appropriate subject, leaving the principal statement as it is; or change the principal proposition so it shall make logical connection with the participial phrase.

 

For example, the first sentence would be, either "As I was pleased, ... my first collection was," etc., or "Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' I made my first collection John Bunyan's works."

 

Exercise.—Rewrite the other four sentences so as to correct the careless use of the participial phrase.

 

INFINITIVES.

 

Adverb between to and the infinitive.

 

451. There is a construction which is becoming more and more common among good writers,—the placing an adverb between to of the infinitive and the infinitive itself. The practice is condemned by many grammarians, while defended or excused by others. Standard writers often use it, and often, purposely or not, avoid it.

 

The following two examples show the adverb before the infinitive:—

The more common usage.

 

He handled it with such nicety of address as sufficiently to show that he fully understood the business.—Scott.

 

It is a solemn, universal assertion, deeply to be kept in mind by all sects.—Ruskin.

 

This is the more common arrangement; yet frequently the desire seems to be to get the adverb snugly against the infinitive, to modify it as closely and clearly as possible.

Exercise.

 

In the following citations, see if the adverbs can be placed before or after the infinitive and still modify it as clearly as they now do:—

 

1. There are, then, many things to be carefully considered, if a strike is to succeed.—Laughlin.

 

2. That the mind may not have to go backwards and forwards in order to rightly connect them.—Herbert Spencer.

 

3. It may be easier to bear along all the qualifications of an idea ... than to first imperfectly conceive such idea.—Id.

 

4. In works of art, this kind of grandeur, which consists in multitude, is to be very cautiously admitted.—Burke.

 

5. That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarcely worth the sentinel.—Goldsmith.

 

6. Burke said that such "little arts and devices" were not to be wholly condemned.—The Nation, No. 1533.

 

7. I wish the reader to clearly understand.—Ruskin.

 

8. Transactions which seem to be most widely separated from one another.—Dr. Blair.

 

9. Would earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up.—Addison.

 

10. A little sketch of his, in which a cannon ball is supposed to have just carried off the head of an aide-de-camp.—Trollope.

 

11. The ladies seem to have been expressly created to form helps meet for such gentlemen.—Macaulay.

 

12. Sufficient to disgust a people whose manners were beginning to be strongly tinctured with austerity.—Id.

 

13. The spirits, therefore, of those opposed to them seemed to be considerably damped by their continued success.—Scott.