Direct and indirect forms of speech are used every day in the workplace and at home.
Direct speech is the language used when quoting someone; indirect speech is the language used when relating what someone said without directly quoting them. For example, when a reporter is quoting someone she uses direct speech, but if she is rehashing the conversation she uses indirect speech. A writer often uses both direct and indirect speech when writing biographies and other non-fiction works.
Instructions
1. Look for quotation marks. Another name for direct speech is "quoted speech;" the writer directly quotes the speaker, so quotation marks are necessary for proper punctuation. Indirect speech does not quote verbatim, but simply reports what someone said and quotes are not necessary.
2. Watch for tenses representing time in the sentence. Indirect speech often changes the tense of the event, such as the indirect speech "Joe said he was going to the races" versus the direct speech "Joe said, 'I am going to the races.'" Note that the verb changes to reflect the change in tense.
3. Look at the pronoun used in the text. Direct speech often uses first person pronouns such as "I" and "we" when you are quoting what a person said to you. Indirect speech changes the first person to pronouns he, she or they because you are speaking about the person. For example, compare the direct speech form "Joe said, 'I am going to the races'" to the indirect speech "Joe said he was going to the races."
4. Notice the use of any modal verbs in the sentence structure. Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs such as "must," "shall," "may," "can" and "will." The modal verbs give more clarity to the main verb. When indirect speech is used, modal verbs often change form; an example in direct speech is "Joe said, 'I must go to the races.'" Changed to indirect speech, the statement becomes "Joe said he had to go to the races."
5. Note any changes to time frames in the speech. Direct speech quotes the speaker and therefore notes a particular time frame. Indirect speech notes the time frame as it applies to the present. An example of direct speech is, The boss said, "You are working tomorrow." The same statement using indirect speech might read "The boss said we were working today."
Tags: direct speech, going races, indirect speech, said going, said going races