Direct speech refers to the actual words spoken or written by someone.
When someone else uses these exact words, that person ‘quotes’ them. The words are put in quotation marks and all other punctuation marks used in the sentence will be captured inside these quotation marks. When someone else reports what someone said without using the exact words, they use indirect or reported speech.
Read the example of the same sentence written in direct speech and reported speech.
Direct speech:
Nosipho said, “My family will be going to a soccer match next Saturday.”
Reported speech:
Nosipho said that her family would be going to a soccer match the following Saturday.
Here are the differences between the two sentences:
• The comma and the quotation marks are not used in reported speech.
• The form of the verb changes in reported speech. (In this example, ‘will’ changes to ‘would’.)