transitivity, but rather an asymmetrical construction containing a reporting clause (head) and an independent reported clause. Note that the asymmetry arises from the fact that the reporting clause is dependent on the quoted content for grammaticality, while the reverse is not true. (11)a.*I said b.“I love you” In this model, the dependent clause has a site of elaboration (e-site) which is filled by the independent clause: HEAD[Pat said e-site] COMPLEMENT[“I’ll call you”] HEAD[Pat thought e-site] COMPLEMENT[“I’ll call you”] HEAD[Pat was like e-site] COMPLEMENT[“I’ll call you”] Direct/indirect quotation Direct quotation is reported from the perspective of the experiencer: (12) He said “I am leaving now” However, indirect quotation is often paraphrased, and reported by a narrator from the perspective of the reportee. Verbs like ask and tell are frequently associated with indirect speech. English indirect quotation also shows a sequence-of-tense effect: a past tense reporting verb requires a "back-shift" in verb tense within the indirect quote itself (13)a. He said "I am leaving now" b. He said (that) he was leaving immediately Indirect quotation is, in theory, syntactically constrained and requires that the quoted content form a subordinate clause under the CP node. However, what is heard in speech does not necessarily conform to theory. The complementizer that, though considered to be a marker of indirect quotation, is not obligatory and is often omitted. Further, it can (and does) occur with direct quotes in some dialects of English (e.g. Hong Kong, Indian). Verbs of speaking often employ the Conversational Historical Present tense, whereby actions in the past are referred to with present-tense morphology. This is considered to add immediacy or authority to the discourse. However, it also illustrates the difficulty in differentiating direct and indirect quotation. (14) So uh ... this lady says ... uh this uh Bert (‘)His son’ll make them. He’s an electrician(‘) Inverted constructions Sentences with verba dicendi for direct quotation may use the somewhat antiquated verb-first (V2) order of English syntax. Inversion of this type with verbs of speaking or thinking frequently occurs in written English, though rarely in spoken English. It is also possible to invert the clause without changing subject-verb order. This is not possible with regular English transitives: (15)a. “No no no” said Harry b. “You’re not drunk” she says cf. *The cat held Pat (where Pat did the holding) There are several restrictions, however. For example, quantifiers may occur to the right of