Talk:Accusative and infinitive

message: I'm hoping to do some writing about indirect discourse, and I think it would be helpful to reorganize the topic a bit.  The accusative and infinitive construction is not, for example, the only means of marking indirect discourse in Latin (as the article currently says).  It is the only means of marking an indirect statement.  But an indirect question is indicated by changing the main verb to the subjunctive mood.
I think the best article structure might be
Indirect discourse
* section on indirect discourse in Latin (subdivided into indirect statement and indirect question, the former of which links to Accusative and infinitive)
* sections on indirect discourse in other languages
Accusative and infinitive
* section on use in Latin is clearer and links to Indirect discourse article
* sections on accusative and infinitive in other languages
Schoen 06:59, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Structure

message: Its a bit odd that English has this construction whereas the neo-latin languages (Spanish, Italian, etc) do not, even though they are more directly ralated to latin. Does anyone know why this is the case? how English came to have it? A section explaining this would be nice! --BodegasAmbite (talk) 09:33, 24 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think English borrowed it from Latin, whereas Vulgar Latin (and hence French etc) borrowed the "that" construction from Germanic.  (Hence Medieval Latin uses credo quod ... for "I think that ...")  But that's a hunch, a strong and fairly well informed one, but not a justification for putting it in the article.  You would have to do a solid trawl of books on language history to get a citable source. --Doric Loon (talk) 23:38, 24 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think it is from Germanic - "quod" can introduce a clause in classical Latin, although it occurs very rarely. Maybe it was already a Vulgar expression back then. Also, medieval Latin can use "quia" for "that"; I don't know if that makes it more or less likely to come from Germanic. (A good place to look for this would probably be "Medieval Latin" by Rigg and Mantello.) Adam Bishop (talk) 14:03, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If it is from another language, it is most likely to be from Greek, which uses both Acc+Inf and clauses introduced by "hoti" (= quod) for indirect speech. 81.141.7.206 (talk) 22:15, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Crossover?

message: 'Quod' clauses are found in Pliny and subsequent authors. Considered colloquial rather than literary, but certainly there! What is more true is that there was a gradual shift in preference from Acc + Inf to 'quod' clauses in Latin literature through the centuries thus:
Cicero entirely Acc+ Inf, Augustine mostly Acc+Inf with some quod clauses, Bede about half and half, Anselm mostly quod. 81.141.7.206 (talk) 21:52, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: VERY interesting. If you have a source for that, please put it in the article. --Doric Loon (talk) 11:48, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Acc + Inf NOT the only form of Indirect Staement in Classical Latin. 

message: Since Greek is mentioned at the beginning as well as Latin, perhaps some examples from Greek should be included.92.111.250.34 (talk) 14:15, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Examples from Greek?