Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Free direct and free indirect speech and thought

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Literary style often omits the reporting clause, when it is clear who is speaking

and in what order. This is known as free direct speech:

His teeth slid out as he stared me in the face.

‘Where? Where?’

‘I don’t know. You tell me.’

bark

bellow 

call (out) 

coax 

cry 

groan 

growl 

grumble 

moan 

mumble 

murmur 

mutter 

retort

roar 

rumble 

shoot back 

shout 

shriek 

sigh 

snap

stammer 

stutter 

whisper 

yell

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Speech representation | 819

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Free direct speech occurs in informal spoken contexts, especially in extended

reports and narratives where blends of different types of speech representation are

common:

A: So we’d been wandering round in the morning doing the usual thing, came

back and had lunch and 

I said, ‘What would you like to do this afternoon,

Doris?’ 

She said, ‘Oh, Annie, let’s go to bingo.’ Now bingo is never ever my

cup of tea, but seeing that I was supposed to be, with her…

B: Supporting her yeah.

A: Exactly. I had to fall in with her. All right then, Doris, where do we go now to

bingo? ‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘but we’ll find out.’

Literary style also permits indirect speech reporting, or the indirect reporting of

inner speech or thoughts, with no explicit reporting verb. This is known as free

indirect speech:

Julie got up. She looked determined. 

She would go to Brighton after all. 

(implied: She said/thought, ‘I’ll go to Brighton after all.’)