Ms. Anderson: “I love to teach. ... Interviewer: Why do you love teaching? ... to a
story. Strong quotes: 1. Answer the “How?” and “Why?” questions raised in a.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUOTES
Interviewer: What do you do at Union Grove Elementary? Ms. Anderson: “I teach language arts.” Interviewer: Do you like teaching? Ms. Anderson: “I love to teach. It’s a great job.” Interviewer: Why do you love teaching? Ms. Anderson: “My students have as much to teach me as I have to teach them.”
A DIRECT QUOTE INCLUDES A SPEAKER’S EXACT WORDS INQUOTATION MARKS: “I teach language arts,” said Ms. Anderson. “I love to teach. It’s a great job,” said Ms. Anderson. “My students have as much to teach me as I have to teach them,” said Ms. Anderson.
INDIRECT QUOTE (SUMMARIZING STATEMENT OR PARAPHRASE) IS A RESTATEMENT OF WHAT SOMEONE SAYS: Ms. Anderson, a language arts teacher, said she loved to teach and that teaching was a great job. She said she loved to teach because her students had as much to teach her as she had to teach them.
SETTING UP THE DIRECT QUOTE WITH AN INDIRECT QUOTE: Ms. Anderson, a language arts teacher, said she loved to teach. “It’s a great job,” she said. “My students have as much to teach me as I have to teach them.”
TIPS FOR USING QUOTES IN YOUR STORIES
Most of the time, you will be paraphrasing and summarizing a speaker’s words, but strong direct quotes add life and interest to a story.
Strong quotes: 1. Answer the “How?” and “Why?” questions raised in a news story. 2. Convey a speaker’s feelings. 3. Include colorful language.
Never change the words in a quote. They must be the exact words of the speaker. If you can’t write fast enough to get all the words, ask your source to repeat his or her quote, or just get the most important words of the quote.
Using “said” or “says” in an attribution is fine most of the time. Don’t worry about overusing these two words. Readers expect to see them and tend not to pay too much attention to them. There are times, however, when it is appropriate to add drama or a little punch of color to a story by using some other word of attribution. “I was so scared when I saw the crossing guard get hit by the car,” sobbed a girl at the scene who witnessed the accident. “I absolutely did not kill my husband,” insisted Mrs. Jones when she was cross-examined on the witness stand by the prosecutor.
Punctuating quotes 1. Quotation marks go at the beginning and at the end of a direct statement. Periods, commas, question marks and exclamation marks are placed inside the quote. “It’s important that a quote is accurate,” said the teacher. “Do you think it’s important that a quote is accurate?” the teacher asked. 2. If the statement is interrupted, put a capital on the first word of the second part of the quotation when it begins a new sentence. “It’s important that a quote is accurate,” said the teacher. “It is wrong to tamper with a quote.”
3. When the speaker you are quoting quotes another person, use a single quotation mark to mark the change. In a telephone interview with the Bark of the Whippet, Mr. McCarter, 66, said he didn’t really remember the accident but was told by police what happened. “I said, ‘Did any kids get hurt?’ And they said, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘That’s good.’”
