Direct speech, also known as quoted speech, is a form of transcription where the exact words spoken or written by the original speaker are reported in their original form. In narrative, direct speech is usually enclosed in quotation marks to distinguish it from the rest of the text.

Direct speech is different from indirect speech, which is a representation of speech in ones own words. A crucial semantic distinction between direct and indirect speech is that direct speech purports to report the exact words that were said or written, whereas indirect speech gives only the content of the speech.

Here are some examples of direct speech:

• "What time will you be home?" she asked.
• "Theres a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
• John said, "Theres an elephant outside the window".

In contrast, here is an example of indirect speech:

• Maria told me that every night she had dreams about strange creatures that sang to her.

To summarize, direct speech is a way of reporting speech or thought in its original form, while indirect speech is a representation of speech in ones own words.