Direct and Indirect Speech

Things to remember

• When the exact words used by a speaker are reproduced, it is called direct speech.When the meaning of a speech is conveyed in the reporter's words, it is called indirect speech or reported speech.
• The direct speech is always within inverted commas. And it is separated from the rest of the sentence usually by a comma. No inverted commas are used in indirect speech.
• In the indirect speech, a conjunction, if necessary, is used to join the reported speech with the rest of the sentences.