DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

Ok, first let me explain the meaning of the sentence and the sentence directly and indirectly. We often have to give information about what people say or think. In order to do this you can use direct or indirect speech.

Direct Speech or Quoted speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called Direct Speech. Here what a person says appears with quotation marks and should be words for word.

Ex : She said, “ Today’s lesson is on presentations.” → this sentences using quotation mark

Indirect Speech or Reported Speech

Indirect speech sometime called reported speech doesn’t use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn’t have to be word for word.

When reporting, speech the tenses usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past ( because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

Ex : Direct Speech : “ I’m going to the cinema”, he said.

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