Reported speech in a dialogue
I suppose this is not really advisable but how do you report speech in a conversation with another person? Should standard reported speech rules apply or do I treat it as direct speech?
- "My homeroom students told me they liked me too..."
- "My homeroom students told me they like me too..."
I'm helping a friend proofread but I'm trying not to change her work too drastically. In this scene, the protagonist is excitedly sharing with his friend about his first day at work and this is one of the things he mentioned. Changing the sentence to "My homeroom students like me too..." would definitely solve the problem but I'm curious if there are any set rules regarding verb conjugation for reported speech in conversations.
Thanks in advance for the help!
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1 answer
Grammatical formalisms (as opposed to fundamental grammar) do not apply in dialog. Dialog is a report of what someone actually said. In fiction, what characters actually say and how they say it is part of their characterization. What matters is, does this speech reflect who the character is. If you are writing an excessively mannered character, you might write excessively mannered speech for them. But a typical person would not make any distinction between the two examples you give. I suspect that most people would say the latter, since it is an indirect quotation (using some of the same words and phrasing without formally quoting what was said). But to answer your question, no, none of these rules apply within dialog.
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