Definition

Direct speech is a report of the exact words used by a speaker or writer. Contrast
with indirect speech. Also called direct discourse.
Direct speech is usually placed inside quotation marks and accompanied by
a reporting verb, signal phrase, or quotative frame.
See Examples and Observations below. Also see:

 Constructed Dialogue
 Conversation Analysis
 Dialogue Guide
 Direct Quotation
 Discourse Analysis
 Indirect Quotation
 Indirect Speech
 Pause
 Reported Speech
 Reporting Clause
 Speech Act
 Stance
 Utterance

Examples and Observations

 A South Carolina parrot was the sole witness to the death by neglect of a 98-year-old
woman. "Help me, Help me," said the parrot. "Ha ha ha!"
(reported in Harper's Magazine, February 2011)

 I went in search of the good beer. Along the way, I caught an intriguing snippet
of conversation in the sunroom:

“So if I win at that table, I’ll go on to the World Series,” said the mom I know as some
kind of government contractor.

“World Series?” you ask.

“Of Poker,” she replied. “I went last year.”

Whoa.
(Petula Dvorak, "White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner Has Nothing on
 Suburban Fete." The Washington Post, May 3, 2012)

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 "How old are you?" the man asked.

"The little boy, at the eternal question, looked at the man suspiciously for a minute
and then said, "Twenty-six. Eight hunnerd and forty eighty."

His mother lifted her head from the book. "Four," she said, smiling fondly at the little
boy.

"Is that so?" the man said politely to the little boy. "Twenty-six." He nodded his head
at the mother across the aisle. "Is that your mother?"

The little boy leaned forward to look and then said, "Yes, that's her."

"What's your name?" the man asked.

The little boy looked suspicious again. "Mr. Jesus," he said.

(Shirley Jackson, "The Witch." The Lottery and Other Stories. Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1949)

 Direct Speech and Indirect Speech

"While direct speech purports to give a verbatim rendition of the words that were
spoken, indirect speech is more variable in claiming to represent a faithful report of
the content or content and form of the words that were spoken. It is important to
note, however, that the question of whether and how faithful a given speech report
actually is, is of a quite different order. Both direct and indirect speech
are stylistic devices for conveying messages. The former is used as if the words
being used were those of another, which are therefore pivoted to a deictic center
different from the speech situation of the report. Indirect speech, in contrast, has its
 deictic center in the report situation and is variable with respect to the extent that
faithfulness to the linguistic form of what was said is being claimed."
(Florian Coulmas, "Reported Speech: Some General Issues." Direct and Indirect
Speech, ed. by F. Coulmas. Walter de Gruyter, 1986)

 Direct Speech as Drama

When a speaking event is reported via direct speech forms, it is possible to include
many features that dramatize the way in which an utterance was produced.
The quotative frame can also includeverbs which indicate the speaker's manner of
expression (e.g. cry, exclaim, gasp), voice quality (e.g. mutter, scream, whisper), and
type of emotion (e.g. giggle, laugh, sob). It can also includeadverbs (e.g. angrily,
brightly, cautiously, hoarsely, quickly, slowly) and descriptions of the reported
speaker's style and tone of voice, as illustrated in [5].
[5a] "I have some good news," she whispered in a mischievous way.
[5b] "What is it?" he snapped immediately.
[5c] "Can't you guess?" she giggled.
[5d] "Oh, no! Don't tell me you're pregnant" he wailed, with a whining nasal sound in
his voice.

The literary style of the examples in [5] is associated with an older tradition. In
contemporary novels, there is often no indication, other than separate lines, of which
character is speaking, as the direct speech forms are presented like a dramatic
script, one after the other.
(George Yule, Explaining English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 1998)

John Grady studied the filly and he looked at the man. That horse is lame, he said.

Lame.

Yessir.

Shit, the man said.

The man walking the horse looked back over his shoulder.

Did you hear that, Louis? the man called to him.

Yeah. I heard it. You want to go on and just shoot her?

(Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain. Alfred A. Knopf, 1998)
 Like: Signaling Direct Speech in Conversation
An interesting new way of signalling direct speech has recently developed among
younger English speakers, and is spreading from the United States to Britain. This
occurs entirely in spoken conversation, rather than in writing, . . . but here are some
examples anyway. (It may help to imagine an American teenager speaking these
examples.)
- When I saw it, I was like [pause] "This is amazing!"
- . . . so all of a sudden, he was like [pause] "What are you doin' here?"
- From the first day she arrived, she was like [pause] "This is my house, not yours."
- So I'm like "Well, sure" and she's like "I'm not so sure . . .."

. . . Though the construction is new [in 1994] and not yet standard, its meaning is very
clear. It seems to be used more often to report thoughts rather than actual speech.
(James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge University Press, 1994)

This is a generic direct speech task,

the principle will be suitable for Y2-Y6 however Y2 may struggle with some of the vocabulary.
Also, there is punctuation missing in the text that is written in direct speech as an added
challenge.Most suited to Y3 on but adapt as required and please share any adaptations.

DIRECT SPEECH
Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we
place the words spoken between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these words. We
may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for example a telephone conversation), or telling
someone later about a previous conversation.

EXAMPLES

 She says, "What time will you be home?"

 She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I don't know! "
 "There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
 John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECHES FORMULA

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECHES

A. Pengertian
Direct Speech adalah bentuk kalimat kutipan asli dari pembicara atau pendapat seseorang tanpa
mengalami perubahan.
Example: Lisa said, ”I am happy”
Indirect Speech adalah kalimat tidak langsung atau kalimat orang lain yang diulangi dalam bentuk
lain oleh pembicara, tanpa menggunakan bentuk yang sama (the exavt word of the speaker), tetapi
masih mempertahankan maksud atau isi kalimat aslinya.
Example: Lisa says, “The concert will begin soon.” (direct speech)
Lisa says that the concert will begin soon. (indirect speech)
B. Bentuk –bentuk Indirect Speech

Bentuk kalimat indirect speech terdiri atas dua kelompok:

1. Bentuk kalimat tidak langsung yang kata pengantarnya dalam bentuk present tense (says, tells,
explains), maka kalimat tidak langsungnya tidak mengalami perubahan tense.
Example: Santi says, ”My boyfriend is a handsome ang good boy.”
Santi says (that) her boyfriend is a handsome and good boy.
2. Bentuk kalimat tidak langsung yang kata pengantarnya dalam bentuk past tense (asked, said,
ordered, warned), maka kalimatnya mengalami perubahan yakni tense, kata ganti orang (pronouns),
serta keterangan waktu dan tempat (adverbs of time and place).
Example: Dina asked, “What will you buy tomorrow?”
Dina asked me what I would buy the following day.
C. Perubahan tenses

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. Present tense Past tense

2. Present Continuous tense Past Continuous tense
3. Past tense Past Perfect tense
4. Past Continuous tense Past Perfect Continuous tense
5. Present Perfect tense Past Perfect tense
6. Present Perfect Continuous tense Past Perfect Continuous tense
7. The Present Future tense (simple / Past Future tense (simple / continuous)
8. continuous) Past Future Perfect tense (simple /
Past Future tense (simple / continuous)
continuous)

D. Perubahabn dari Direct ke Indirect Speech

1. Indirect Speech yang berbentuk statement (pernyataan)

§ Sebuah kalimat pernyataan menggunakan kata pengantar.
Said
Informed
(that) + .....
Explained
Told

§ Bila pembicara melaporkan atau menceritakan kembali apa yang dibicarakan oleh orang
lain, pronouns(kata ganti orang) dalam kalimat tersebut harus berubah.
Example: Dion said, ”I am sleepy now”. (Direct speech)
Dion said that he was sleepy then (Indirect speech)
2. Indirect Speech yang berasal dari interrogative form (kalimat tanya)
a. Bentuk kalimat tanya yang didahului dengan auxiliary verb (kata kerja bantu). Bila pertanyaan
dimulai dengan kata kerja bantu, maka kalimat tidak langsungnya menggunakan rumus:
If / whether + S + auxiliary verb + object (complement)
Example: Andre asked, “Are you sick?” (Direct speech)
Andre asked me if/whether I was sick. (Indirect speech)
b. Bentuk kalimat tanya yang didahului oleh question words (what, who, whom, which, how). Bila
pertanyaan mulai dengan question words, maka kalimat tidak langsung (indirect speech)
menggunakan rumus:
Question word + S + verb

Example: Anton said, “Where do you study?” (Direct speech)

Anton asked me where I studied. (Indirect speech)
3. Indirect Speech yang berasal dari sebuah indirect imperative (kalimat perintah)
Kata kerja pengantar dalam bentuk ini adalah:

Told
Ordered
Asked + to + verb base (or)
Begged + not to + verb base
Advised
Requested

Bentuk indirect imperative ada 2.

1. Positive imperative
Bentuk positive imperative adalah bentuk kalimat perintah tanpa not. Polanya adalah sebagai berikut:
to + verb base

Example: “Open the window, please!” (Direct speech)

The teacher told me to open the window. (Indirect speech)
2. Negative imperative
Jika kalimat perintah negatif diawali dengan kata don’t, maka bentuk kata kerja negatifnya berubah
menjadi not dan diikuti infinitive dengan to. Jadi, pada kalimat perintah negatif polanya adalah:
not to + verb base

Example: ”don’t be angry” (Direct speech)

Budi told me not to be angry. (Indirect speech)
Catatan:
Perubahan dalam bentuk kalimat tidak langsung hanya terjadi pada keterangan waktu (adverbs of
time) dan keterangan tempat (adverbs of place), namun tidak mengalami perubahan tense. Jika
bentuk permohonan menggunakan kata ’please’, maka dalam kalimat tidak langsungnya kat ’please’
hilang

Berikut adalah perubahan Tenses Direct & Indirect Speech

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1 » Simple Present Tenses » Simple Past Tenses
+ S + V1(s,es) + o/c + S + V2 + o/c
- S + Do/Does + V1 + o/c - S + Did + Not + V1 + o/c
? Do/Does + S + V1 + o/c ? Did + S + V1 + o/c
Mother said, “I go to the market Mother said that she went to the
today” market that day

2 » Present Continuous Tenses » Past Continuous Tenses

S + TOBE(Is, Am, Are) + V1 + S + TOBE(Was,Were) + V1 +
+ Ing + Ing
S + TOBE(Is, Am, Are) + Not + S + TOBE(Was,Were) + Not +
- V1 + Ing - V1 + Ing
TOBE(Is, Am, Are) + S + V1 + TOBE(Was,Were) + S + V1 +
? Ing ? Ing
Andi says that he was going to
Andi says, “I am going to school” school

3 » Present Perfect Tenses » Past Perfect Tenses

+ S + Have/Has + V3 + S + Had + V3
- S + Have/Has + Not + V3 - S + Had + Not + V3
 ? Have/Has + S + V3 ? Had + S + V3
The Teachers said, “We have some The Teachers said that they have
tests for you” some tests for you

» Present Perfect Continuous » Past Perfect Continuous

4 Tenses Tenses
+ S + Have/Has + Been + V1 + ing + S + Had + Been + V1 + Ing
S + Have/Has + Been + Not + V1
- + ing - S + Had + Been + Not V1 + Ing
? Have/Has + S + Been + V1 + ing ? Had + S + Been + V1 + Ing
Sherry said, “I have been reading Sherry said that she had been
the book reading the book

5 » Simple Past Tenses » Past Pefect Tenses

+ S + V2 + o/c + S + Had + V3
- S + Did + Not + V1 + o/c - S + Had + Not + V3
? Did + S + V1 + o/c ? Had + S + V3
Otoosan said, “I ate that food Otoosan said that he had eaten
yesterday” those food the previous day
» Past Perfect Continuous
6 » Past Continuous Tenses Tenses
S + TOBE(Was,Were) + V1 +
+ Ing + S + Had + Been + V1 + Ing
S + TOBE(Was,Were) + Not +
- V1 + Ing - S + Had + Been + Not V1 + Ing
TOBE(Was,Were) + S + V1 +
? Ing ? Had + S + Been + V1 + Ing
Kudo said that his parents had been
Kudo said, “My parents were goin to going to his grandma’s house the
my grandma’s house last night” previous night

7 » Simple Future Tenses » Past Future Tenses

+ S + Will/Shall + V1 + S + Would/Should + V1
 - S + Will/Shall + Not + V1 - S + Would/Should + Not + V1
? Will /Shall + S + V1 ? Would/Should + Not + V1
Conan said, “My family will come Conan said that his family would go
from Japan” from Japan

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

PRESENT TENSE
PRESENT SIMPLE changes into PAST SIMPLE
He said, “I write a letter” He said that he wrote a letter.

She said, “he goes to school daily” He said that she went to school daily.

They said, “we love our country” They said that they loved their country

He said that he did not like computer.

He said, “he does not like computer”

PRESENT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST CONTINUOUS

He said, “he is listening to the music” He said that he was listening to themusic.

She said, “I am washing my clothes” She said that she was washing her clothes.

They said, “we are enjoying the weather” They said that they were not enjoying the
weather.
I said, “it is raining”
She said, “I am not laughing” She said that she was not laughing.

PRESENT PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT

She said, “he has finished his work” She said that he had finished his work.

He said, “I have started a job” He said that he had started a job.

I said, “she have eaten the meal” I said that she had eaten the meal.

They said that they had not gone to NewYork.

They said, “we have not gone to NewYork.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT

CONTINUOUS
He said, “I have been studying since 3 O’clock” He said that he had been studying since 3
O’clock.
She said, “It has been raining for three days.”
I said, “She has been working in this office since
2007”
She said that it been raining for three days.
I said that she had been working in this office
since 2007.

PAST TENSE
PAST SIMPLE changes into PAST PERFECT

He said to me, “you answered correctly” He said to me that I had answered correctly.

John said, “they went to cinema” John said that they had gone to cinema.

He said, “I made a table” He said that he had made a table.

She said, “I didn’t buy a car” She said that she had not bought a car.

PAST CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

They said, “we were enjoying the weather” They said that they had been enjoying.

He said to me, “ I was waiting for you” He said to me that he had been waiting for me.
I said that it had been raining.
I said, “It was raining”
She said, “I was not laughing” She said that she not been laughing.

PAST PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT (tense does not change)

She said, “She had visited a doctor” She said that she had visited a doctor.

He said, “I had started a business” He said that he had started a business.

I said, “she had eaten the meal” I said that she had eaten the meal.

They said, “we had not gone to New York. They said they had not gone to New York.

FUTURE TENSE
FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE
WILL changes into WOULD
He said, “I will study the book” He said that he would study the book.

She said, “I will buy a computer” She said that she would buy a computer.

They said to me, “we will send you gifts” They said to me that they would send you gifts.

I said that I would not take the exam.

I said, “I will not take the exam”
 FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE
WILL BE changes into WOULD BE
I said to him that I would be waiting for him.
I said to him, “ I will be waiting for him”

She said that she would be shifting to a new

She said,” I will be shifting to new home”
home.

He said, “I will be working hard”

He said that he would be working hard.

He said, “he will not be flying kite”

She said that he would not be flying kites.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

WILL HAVE changes into WOULD HAVE
He said, “I will have finished the work” He said that he would have finished the work.

She said, “they will have passed the She said that they would have passed the
examination” examination.

He said, “I will have gone” He said that he would have gone.

Note: The tense of reported speech may not change if reported speech is a universal truth though
its reporting verb belongs to past tense.

Examples.
Direct speech: He said, “Mathematics is a science”
Indirect Speech: He said that mathematics is a science.
Direct speech: He said, “Sun rises in east”
Indirect Speech: He said that sun rises in east. (Tense didn’t change
because reported speech is a universal truth thought its reporting
verb belongs to past tense)

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

PRESENT TENSE
PRESENT SIMPLE changes into PAST SIMPLE
He said, “I write a letter” He said that he wrote a letter.

She said, “he goes to school daily” He said that she went to school daily.

They said, “we love our country” They said that they loved their country
 He said that he did not like computer.
He said, “he does not like computer”

PRESENT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST CONTINUOUS

He said, “he is listening to the music” He said that he was listening to themusic.

She said, “I am washing my clothes” She said that she was washing her clothes.

They said, “we are enjoying the weather” They said that they were not enjoying the
weather.
I said, “it is raining”
She said, “I am not laughing” She said that she was not laughing.

PRESENT PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT

She said, “he has finished his work” She said that he had finished his work.

He said, “I have started a job” He said that he had started a job.

I said, “she have eaten the meal” I said that she had eaten the meal.

They said that they had not gone to NewYork.

They said, “we have not gone to NewYork.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT

CONTINUOUS
He said that he had been studying since 3
He said, “I have been studying since 3 O’clock”
O’clock.

She said, “It has been raining for three days.”

She said that it been raining for three days.

I said, “She has been working in this office since

I said that she had been working in this office
2007”
since 2007.

PAST TENSE
PAST SIMPLE changes into PAST PERFECT

He said to me, “you answered correctly” He said to me that I had answered correctly.

John said, “they went to cinema” John said that they had gone to cinema.

He said, “I made a table” He said that he had made a table.

She said, “I didn’t buy a car” She said that she had not bought a car.

PAST CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

They said, “we were enjoying the weather” They said that they had been enjoying.

He said to me, “ I was waiting for you” He said to me that he had been waiting for me.
I said that it had been raining.
I said, “It was raining”
She said, “I was not laughing” She said that she not been laughing.

PAST PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT (tense does not change)

She said, “She had visited a doctor” She said that she had visited a doctor.

He said, “I had started a business” He said that he had started a business.

I said, “she had eaten the meal” I said that she had eaten the meal.

They said, “we had not gone to New York. They said they had not gone to New York.

FUTURE TENSE
FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE
WILL changes into WOULD
He said, “I will study the book” He said that he would study the book.

She said, “I will buy a computer” She said that she would buy a computer.

They said to me, “we will send you gifts” They said to me that they would send you gifts.

I said that I would not take the exam.

I said, “I will not take the exam”

FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

WILL BE changes into WOULD BE
I said to him that I would be waiting for him.
I said to him, “ I will be waiting for him”

She said that she would be shifting to a new

She said,” I will be shifting to new home”
home.

He said, “I will be working hard”

He said that he would be working hard.

He said, “he will not be flying kite”

She said that he would not be flying kites.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

WILL HAVE changes into WOULD HAVE
He said, “I will have finished the work” He said that he would have finished the work.

She said, “they will have passed the She said that they would have passed the
examination” examination.

He said, “I will have gone” He said that he would have gone.

Note: The tense of reported speech may not change if reported speech is a universal truth though
its reporting verb belongs to past tense.

Examples.
Direct speech: He said, “Mathematics is a science”
Indirect Speech: He said that mathematics is a science.
Direct speech: He said, “Sun rises in east”
Indirect Speech: He said that sun rises in east. (Tense didn’t change
because reported speech is a universal truth thought its reporting
verb belongs to past tense)