Noun: inverted comma (plural inverted commas)
- (Britain) A type of quotation mark, denoted by ‘ (an "open inverted comma") or ’ (a "close inverted comma"). Often used instead of "inverted commas", which also means a "double style" inverted comma, denoted by “ ("open inverted commas") or ” ("close inverted commas"), in the United Kingdom.
- The following paradigm will serve to illustrate what we mean by this term:
- (37) (a) ‘Will I get a degree?ʼ John wondered(37) (b) John wondered whether he would get a degree(37) (c) John wondered would he get a degree
- The italicised sequence in (37) (a) is said to be an instance of direct speech: John's exact words are recorded verbatim, and are bounded in the spelling by a question mark and inverted commas; points to note here include the use of the present tense Auxiliary will, the inversion of the Auxiliary, and the use of the first person pronoun I to represent the speaker.
