Reading Academic Vocabulary Practice Test

Direct speech describes sentences that reproduce the exact words spoken, with the words placed inside quotation marks. It preserves the speaker’s original wording and punctuation, and is typically introduced by a reporting clause like “she said.” Indirect (or reported) speech, by contrast, paraphrases what was said without quoting the exact words and often shifts pronouns and tense. Quoted speech can be used to refer to the quoted portion itself, but when the exact wording is presented in quotation marks, the standard label is direct speech, which is why it’s the best fit here.