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The most common type of indirect speech is indirect statement, for which in classical Latin (although not in medieval Latin) the usual grammatical form is the accusative and infinitive construction. In this the subject of the quoted sentence is put into the accusative case , and the verb is changed to an infinitive.
In Latin grammar, indirect speech is called ōrātiō oblīqua [9] (direct speech is called ōrātiō recta). An indirect statement or question can replace the direct object of a verb that is related to thought or communication.
the indirect statement might be Julia says that she is a good student. Classical Latin tends not to use a conjunction equivalent to the English "that" to introduce indirect statements. Rather, an accusative subject is used with an infinitive to develop the appropriate meaning. For example, translating the aforementioned example into Latin:
Latin word order is relatively free. The verb may be found at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence; an adjective may precede or follow its noun (vir bonus or bonus vir both mean 'a good man'); [5] and a genitive may precede or follow its noun ('the enemies' camp' can be both hostium castra and castra hostium; the latter is more common). [6]
as the subject of an indirect statement with the verb as an infinitive, (e.g. Dixit me esse saevum, "He said that I had been cruel"; in later Latin works, such as the Vulgate, such a phrasing is replaced by quod and a regularly ordered sentence, having the subject in the nominative and the verb in the indicative mood, e.g., Dixit quod ego ...
A gang member “giggled” as he admitted to kidnapping a young Texas woman at gunpoint and threatening to pimp her out and sell her organs, according to cops.
Kurt the CyberGuy walks through steps he recommends immediately taking after getting new electronics — like phones or TVs — as gifts this holiday season.
In reports of statements or ideas and in statements of facts known by others, the subject is represented by an 'accusative' noun and the event is represented by an 'infinitive' verb or verb group. For this reason, the structure of a reported statement is known as 'accusative and infinitive'.