inverted comma

The following paradigm will serve to illustrate what we mean by this term:

(37) (a) ‘Will I get a degree?ʼ John wondered

(37) (b) John wondered whether he would get a degree

(37) (c) John wondered would he get a degree

The italicised sequence in (37) (a) is said to be an instance of direct speech: John's exact words are recorded verbatim, and are bounded in the spelling by a question mark and inverted commas; points to note here include the use of the present tense Auxiliary will, the inversion of the Auxiliary, and the use of the first person pronoun I to represent the speaker.