Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 10 AIL 0914 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Recognising Free Indirect Discourse
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The idea
Look for a sentence in third person and past tense that carries a judgment or a colouring only the character would supply. If the opinion belongs to the character but the grammar belongs to the narrator, the sentence is free indirect. Both worked prose passages below use it.
In practice
Character's opinion, narrator's grammar.
Where people slip
The judgment marks it, not the tense.
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