What is Direct and Indirect Statement?

This term is also asked as What is direct statement or what is indirect statement. There are two ways to answer a question:

• Direct speech by repeating or quoting the same words.
• Indirect speech by reporting the spoken words.

Direct Speech

In direct speech we repeat, or quote, the words as it is spoken by someone. While using direct speech in writing, we put the words spoken between inverted commas (“….”).

Examples:

• She said “When you will be at home?” And I said “I don’t know! “
• “There’s a fly in my tea!” screamed Ali.

Reported Speech or indirect Speech:

In direct speech is used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the spoken words. We use reporting verbs like ‘say’, ‘tell’, ‘ask’, and we may use the word ‘that’ to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.

Examples:

she said, “I saw him.”
Will be changed into She said that she had seen him.