What is the meaning of indirect quotation in Chinese? What is the difference between indirect quotation and reported sentence?

The final exam is coming soon. Many students have encountered various difficulties when doing sentence conversion questions and often lose points in the basic part. Today, the editor will take you to learn what indirect objects are, how to convert them, and the difference between them and reported sentences. Join the study now!

Contents of this article

1. What does indirect quotation mean?

2. What is an indirect quotation sentence?

3. How to modify indirect quotation

4. What is the difference between indirect speech and reported speech?

What does indirect quotation mean?

Indirect quotations are the retelling of someone else's words or ideas. It is one of the basic knowledge of primary school Chinese. The specific examples of the conversion between direct quotations and indirect quotations are as follows:

Direct quotation: My mother said to me seriously, "The final exam is coming soon. You must review seriously and don't let your teacher and mother down."

Indirect quotation: My mother said to me seriously that the final exam was coming soon, and I must review carefully and not let my teacher and her down.

What is an indirect quotation?

1. The clause is not directly narrated by the subject, but reported by a third person;

2. In fact, indirect quotations are mostly object clauses. When direct quotations are imperative sentences, declarative sentences, and interrogative sentences, they are converted into indirect quotations. The sentence structure, person, tense, time, time adverbials, and place adverbials will all change.

3. Indirect quotation is actually what is called third-person reporting;

4. In indirect quotations, the subject of the quotation should use the objective case, and the verb should use the infinitive. The tense of the infinitive depends on the sequence of the time of the quotation and the verb and the time of the verb of the main clause. The gender and number of the infinitive depend on the subject of the indirect quotation.

How to modify indirect speech

Methods for changing indirect quotations: The first step is to change the person, the first one follows the subject, the second one follows the object, and the third one does not change; the second step is to change the tense; the third step is to change the adverbial. Indirect quotations are to paraphrase other people's words in your own language.

Change of person name:

"One follows the main" means that when a direct quotation is changed into an indirect quotation, if the subject in the subordinate clause is the first person or is modified by the first person, the person in the subordinate clause should follow the person change of the subject in the main clause.

"Two follow the object" means that when a direct quotation is changed into an indirect quotation, if the subject and object in the subordinate clause are in the second person, or are modified by the second person, the person in the subordinate clause must be consistent with the object of the main clause outside the quotation marks. If the main clause outside the quotation marks has no object, the first person can also be used.

"No update of the third person" refers to when a direct quotation changes to an indirect quotation. If the subject and object in the clause are in the third person or are modified by the third person, the person in the clause generally does not need to change.

Change tense:

When a direct quotation is changed into an indirect quotation, the tense needs to be adjusted accordingly.

The present tense needs to be changed to the past tense; the past tense is changed to the perfect tense; the past perfect tense retains the original tense.

Adverbial variation:

When direct quotation becomes indirect quotation, the change of adverbials has its own internal rules. The time adverbial is changed from "now" to "originally", and the place adverbial, especially the adverbial that expresses direction or is modified by demonstrative pronouns, is changed from "this" to "that".

What is the difference between indirect speech and reported speech?

Indirect quotations are only used in clauses after verbs that express opinions. This clause is not directly narrated by the subject, but reported by a third person. A reported sentence is to report someone else's meaning to others in one's own words, or to quote one's own words to others in one's own words.

Indirect quotations are mostly object clauses. When direct quotations are imperative, declarative, or interrogative sentences and are converted into indirect quotations, the sentence structure, person, tense, time, time adverbial, and place adverbial, etc., must be changed. Reported sentences require direct narration to be changed into indirect narration. Therefore, when a quoted sentence is changed into a reported sentence, the person will change.