3 Responses to Quotes – Ally Hodgson

1. davidbdale says:

   March 3, 2012 at 3:08 pm

   I like the way you thoroughly exonerate the church in advance of the quote by making them sound so remorseful, Ally. When the news comes that they don’t expect wrongful submission to end, it makes the church sound like a victim of nasty people’s bad behavior, which is just how they would like to be portrayed. Nice work! 🙂

   Now, in your White Paper, you had an opportunity to use your Quotation skills in a real-world setting. This is what you said:

   Marijuana is a schedule one drug. A schedule one drug is described as, “hav[ing] a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

   There’s no characterization issue here, Ally. You haven’t tried to shape the meaning of the quote in any particular way. I have only technical advice to offer.

   Your use of brackets indicates you know the quote doesn’t match the grammar of your sentence and your decision to change the have of the original to having makes perfect sense, but it doesn’t go far enough. The same sentence contains another have, which still doesn’t match, and other problems follow.

   So, if you can’t make the quote match your grammar, you’re better off changing your own sentence to match the quote. Here are two solutions, one of each.

   Break up the grammar of the original:

   Marijuana is a schedule one drug. A schedule one drug is described as having “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” Further, “there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

   Do a better setup:

   Marijuana is a schedule one drug. According to the government’s critieria, schedule one drugs “have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and [fail to offer] accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

   Will this help you construct your own quotes?

   LikeLike

   Reply
   • allyhodgson93 says:

     March 6, 2012 at 3:39 pm

     yes, thank you. is it wrong that i didn’t characterize it?
     and can i just change it to:
     Marijuana is a schedule one drug. A schedule one drug is described as, “hav[ing] a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”
     ?

     LikeLike

     Reply
     • davidbdale says:

       March 6, 2012 at 7:06 pm

       No, it’s not wrong not to characterize. Do so when you need to shape your readers’ expectations or help them interpret.

       But no, you can’t quote quite as you have because you’re obligated to reproduce the original exactly unless you clearly indicate where you’ve made changes, however slight. It’s also just confusing to start with a word you have to change, especially when it’s so easy to start a word later. You could say:

       Marijuana is a schedule one drug. A schedule one drug is described as having “a high potential for abuse, . . . no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States . . . [and] . . . a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.” But it doesn’t seem like much of an improvement.

       LikeLike

       Reply