Guide to English grammar

For details about adjectives, e.g. a narrow, steep, winding road, • 202.

4 Direct speech

Direct speech means reporting someone's words by repeating them exactly. In this story a policeman called Hawes wants to question someone.
He knocked again, and this time a voice said, “Who's there?” The voice was pitched very low; he could not tell if it belonged to a man or a woman.
“Charlie?” he said.
‘Charlie ain't here right now,” the voice said.
“Who's that, anyway?”
“Police officer,” Hawes said. “Mind opening the door?”

A practical guide to English grammar 59

“Go away,” the voice said.
“I've got a warrant for the arrest of Charles Harrod,” Hawes lied. “Open the door, or I'll kick it in.”
(from Ed Mc Bain Bread)

Direct speech is inside quotation marks, also called “quotes” or “inverted comma” (‘ ’GB/ “ ”US).

Single quotes are more usual than double ones.
'Police officer,' he said. /"Police officer”, he said.
We use a phrase like he said, separated by a comma (or a colon), to identify the speaker. This usually comes after the direct speech, but it can come first.
'Police officer,' Hawes said.
Hawes said, 'Police officer.'/Hawes said: 'Police officer.'
When the direct speech is longer, we can mention the speaker in the middle of it.
'Open the door,' he said, 'or I'll kick it in.'

NOTE

1. 
   We can also use quotes around a word or phrase to show that it was first used by someone else.
   

The so-called 'hotel' was just an old shed.
All Americans have the right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'

For inversion, e.g. said Hawes, • 265(4).

5 The hyphen

The rules about when to use a hyphen are not very exact. In general, hyphens are used less in the USA than in Britain.
1 The hyphen shows that two words belong together. It is usual in compound expressions before a noun.