Quote or Italicize Prior Dialogue
When a character is referring back to dialogue (telling the story to the reader) and using the exact words, would you write...
And then she said, "I saw the body on the driveway."
And I said to her, "So why'd you step on it then?"
or....
And then she said, I saw the body on the driveway.
And I said to her, So why'd you step on it then?
I can't find the answer anywhere, but think that since the dialogue isn't happening at the moment, it should be italicized for clarity.
I realize it could be written without the exact words, but that's not what I'm looking to do. Also, this dialogue does not go on for any length.
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1 answer
It is a quotation so it goes in quotation marks. It is not the function of punctuation to indicate when a speech was uttered. If you need to make that clear, then you must do so in the text.
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