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hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

Why are quotaion marks necessary?

As Mr. Romney�s fortunes rocketed at Bain and his public profile grew with an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in Massachusetts, he continued to hang onto the humble houses in Houston, collecting rent and paying the mortgages. Then, in 1997, with real estate on a comeback, Mr. Romney appears to have decided to sell all five of them. Records show two were sold to local real estate investors, and three others to the people renting them.

When Mr. Stamps took the call from Mr. Romney, he and his wife, a nurse, had all but given up hope of being able to buy the house they had been renting for five years. Mr. Romney told him it looked like the couple had been taking good care of the property and that �we would be good people to buy it,� said Mr. Stamps. Mr. Stamps said he never heard from Mr. Romney again, and only became aware of who he was when he started running for president four years ago.

�His name came up somewhere,� he said, �and my wife and I said to each other, �That�s the guy we bought our house from!� �
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Hiromichi

Lorikeet · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco

I would think the quotation marks would be better starting with "would" and leaving out the "we". He probably said something like "You would be...."

hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

Lorikeet:
Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi

SimpleEnglishBlogger · Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 50 Location: Japan

Actually, when you consider that it is Mr. Stamps talking, the quotes work just fine.

Yes, it's true that Mr. Romney was the person speaking originally, and Romney likely said "you would be good people to buy it".

But the article is not quoting Romney. It is quoting Mr. Stamps. Mr. Stamps probably said to the reporter something like, "Mr. Romney thought we had been taking good care of the property and that we would be good people to buy it," so it's correct, IMO.
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hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

SimpleEnglishBlogger:
Thank you.
The structure of the sentence is: A said that B told that....
If so, the quotation mark is unnecessary. And the word couple should be we.
The writer first intended to write B told that... Then he changed his mind and added A said.
Is this humble opinion of mine reasonable?
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Hiromichi

SimpleEnglishBlogger · Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 50 Location: Japan

hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

SimpleEnglishBlogger:
Thank you very much for your reply this time.
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Hiromichi

Tao · Joined: 26 Oct 2012 Posts: 66

Quotes are necessary to show exactly what a person says. The quotes used here are used by the person interviewing Mr. Stamps to show exactly what Mr. Stamps said, no one else. It also gives authenticity to the information given.
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TAO

hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

Tao:
Thanks for your follow-up reply.
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Hiromichi

IanT · Joined: 13 Sep 2012 Posts: 340 Location: Spain

The quotes are used around this particular part to avoid ambiguity about personal pronouns.

Because you have "we would be" in quotes, you know that "we" refers to the speaker, Mr Stamps (and family), even though he is referring to what Mr Romney said.

So the quotes make it clear that the sentence is a report of Mr Romney talking about Mr Stamps.

Hope helps,
Ian
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hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

IanT:Thank you.
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Hiromichi