What can I do to fix this sentence?
Fred said the distributor cap on my car is cracked
Nothing, other than a period at the end. You've used an indirect quotation, and quotation marks are not needed.
Ms. Sue is correct.
Someone posted this very sentence the other day -- http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1363261452 -- and it was answered differently AND INCORRECTLY!! If you use quotation marks there also needs to be a comma and an additional word needs to be capitalized ... AND you change the meaning of the sentence!!
Best keep it as it is!
Thank you both!
You're welcome!
That was my mistake, I read it as a direct quote of Fred, speaking about his own car, rather than an indirect quote. Thank you.
1.Fred said, that the distributor cap on my car is cracked.
2.Fred said, the distributor cap on his car is cracked
To fix the sentence "Fred said the distributor cap on my car is cracked," you can make a small modification:
- "Fred said, 'The distributor cap on my car is cracked.'"
By enclosing the quote within quotation marks and adding the comma before the quote, the sentence becomes grammatically correct. This format indicates that Fred is directly speaking the words.