Information+on+Direct+and+Indirect+Speech

**DIRECT and INDIRECT SPEECH.**

What is direct (quoted) speech and indirect (reported) speech?

The definition of //direct speech// provided by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) is//: “quoted speech that is presented without modification, as it might have been uttered by the original speaker”.//

It is word-for-word what has been said or a quotation of what is said in the first person in the present. And the best way to explain anything is through example so, if I was to say: "I feel wonderful today" then that would be direct speech. It is what people actually say.

Direct speech conveys exactly what someone has said, often
 * to dramatise
 * to create a sense of immediacy
 * because the precise words used were in some way important

It is found in newspaper reports, fiction and oral narratives.

//Indirect speech// on the other hand as described by the SIL // “ //// is reported speech that is presented with grammatical modifications, rather than as it might have been uttered by the original speaker .” //

Going back to my original example. If I say "I feel absolutely wonderful today" that is direct speech. However, if you decide to take what I have said and go tell someone else about it, you would say: Julie said she feels wonderful today.

This is an example of indirect speech and as you have probably picked up is also commonly called reported speech because it is about //reporting// on what has already been said.

We use indirect speech when we are interested, not in the words that someone has chosen, but in the essential information they conveyed. We often use fewer words to report this than were originally spoken.

Indirect speech is found in newspaper reports, fiction, talking or writing about conversation, reports, articles or speeches we have heard or read.

You can see the skill is being able to convert or transform direct speech to indirect speech, which can be extremely challenging for ESL learners.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">This area of language is often used in everyday, informal conversations. If you are an avid gossiper you probably have this skill down pat.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Indirect speech is also often applied in text type reports. If you were a reporter and you interviewed a handful of witnesses to a crime and then wrote up a newspaper article about it, you would most probably use indirect speech.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Teaching the transformation of direct to indirect speech to an ESL learner is a difficult task for various reasons.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Firstly when explaining the ‘rules’ (which there are many), the rule doesn’t always necessarily apply, which can become very confusing.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">An example of this is, the rule that states, when you are changing present tense to past tense you need to change the verb.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">So if I was to say "I skipped to uni" this would change to ‘she said she skipp**ed** to uni’.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">The verb change in this case is ‘skip’ to ‘skipped’.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">However, when something is forever true this rule does not apply.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">So if I was to say "my favourite colour is red" (is being the verb), I would not convert this to 'her favourite colour **was** red’ because my favourite colour doesn’t change.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Therefore the verb in this instance stays the same (her favourite colour is red).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">references: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsDirectSpeech.htm <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsIndirectSpeech.htm <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsDirectSpeech.htm <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsIndirectSpeech.htm