Direct and Indirect Speech With Examples and Detailed Explanations Direct speech is the ones that the person establishes himself / herself. Usually used in writing language such as novels, stories etc. Transferring the sentence that someone else says is called indirect speech. It is also called reported speech. Usually, it is used in spoken language. If the transmitted action is done in the past, the sentence becomes the past tense. Example; He said; the newspaper is very interesting. He said the newspaper was very interesting. Time changes in indirect speech; He said; I live in Island. He said he