what are direct and indirect speech

Sentence 1: Mother said, "Jamie, please take off your jacket and sit near the fireplace,"

 

Sentence 2: Mother asked Jamie to take off her jacket and sit near the fireplace.

 

Sentence 1 is an example of direct speech while sentence 2 is an example of the reported (indirect) version of sentence 1. 

 

Direct Speech: Reports or quotes the exact words spoken. It uses quotation marks (" ") to state the exact words. 

Indirect Speech: Is used to talk about what has been spoken by someone in the past. It uses a reporting verb (said, asked) to introduce the reported words.