DIRECT SPEECH

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.

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 stylisticdevices 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)

PATTERN & EXAMPLE

Frasa dalam Kalimat Langsung	Frasa yang Setara dalam Kalimat Tidak Langsung
Simple present	Simple past
“I always drink coffee”, she said	She said that she always drank coffee.
Present continuous	Past continuous
“I am reading a book”, he explained.	He explained that he was reading a book
Simple past	Past perfect
“Bill arrived on Saturday”, he said.	He said that Bill had arrived on Saturday.
Present perfect	Past perfect
“I have been to Spain”, he told me.	He told me that he had been to Spain.
Past perfect	Past perfect
“I had just turned out the light,” he explained.	He explained that he had just turned out the light.
Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
They complained, “We have been waiting for hours”.	They complained that they had been waiting for hours.
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous
“We were living in Paris”, they told me.	They told me that they had been living in Paris.
Future	Present conditional
“I will be in Geneva on Monday”, he said.	He said that he would be in Geneva on Monday.
Future continuous	Conditional continuous
She said, “I’ll be using the car next Friday”.	She said that she would be using the car next Friday.

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