Beware of False Prophets, False Positives, False Quotes

Here's a sentence from a columnist from a big downstate newspaper.

Quinn said he "hopes" all of the inmates have learned their lessons behind bars.

The writer wanted to emphasize that Gov. Pat Quinn said he could only hope, not guarantee, that early-released prisoners wouldn't commit crimes.

But that sentence represents a problem writers often have when they use partial quotes within a paraphrase.

In other words, writers must be careful when they move from direct speech to reported speech, because it often involves a change of person in pronouns.

Direct speech is the use of a direction quotation.

Reported speech is paraphrase, leading with attribution, e.g., Quinn said ...

So, if we believe the quoted word in the columnist's paraphrase – that Quinn used the word "hopes" – the governor must have said, "I hopes they have learned their lessons."

Bet he didn't say that.

The problem came when the writer, in reporting Quinn's first-person statement, changed the verb to be consistent with the third-person pronoun (he) in the paraphrase.

In which case, the writer should not have used quotation marks around the verb hopes.

That's what we call a "false quote."

Beware.

As for the false prophets and false positives, avoid talk radio, cable TV and bad physicians.