Changing the perspective of a quotation

Question

Is it possible to change the perspective of a quotation? I want to refer to the speaker as "he"

original: "In consequence I’m inclined to reserve all judgments."

my version: "In consequence [he's] inclined to reserve all judgments."

Answer 1

Hi Evan,

Yes, it is possible to change the perspective of a quotation--in this case from the 1st person narrative "I'm" to the 3rd person narrative "He's". As long as you are referring to the same person in both contexts--in this case, you yourself, and you are not quoting another source directly, the perspective can be changed accordingly. Just make sure the rest of your writing is also written in the same narrative/perspective so as not to confuse your readers or throw your writing off in terms of its narrative/perspective all the way through.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Answer 2

Evan, thanks for this question. From what you’ve presented, it sounds like you’re asking about a quotation, which is a sentence or group of words repeated by someone else. The use of the quotation marks denotes verbatim, word for word. With that, my response to your question is no, you cannot alter a direct quote of what someone has said. Otherwise you dilute if not misrepresent the words found inside the punctuation (quote marks).

To change the person from 1st to 3rd as you’re desiring, you would want to try paraphrasing, which is rewording or reworking a quote while preserving its meaning. In this case try:

1) He said that in consequence, he’s inclined to reserve all judgments.

or you could try:

2) He said in consequence, “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments.” See the difference?

I differ from the other tutor’s response and would argue (heavily) against it because it is an incorrect application of quotes, based on my experience.

I am a journalist (CNN, AP) with more than 25 years in newsrooms and am sharing with you AP style and traditional newswriting, which considers the ethics of direct quotes and the importance of preserving a speaker’s verbatim dialogue.

Lastly, I would add that context matters so it’s always helpful to provide background, is this fiction or non-fiction, academic or journalism, poetry, playwriting, etc?

Hope that helps.