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indirect speech

 noun
     
NEW! See related topics: GRAMMAR
indirect speech British English; indirect discourse American English also reported speech [uncountable] technical
SLG a way of reporting what someone said without repeating their exact words. For example, in the sentence 'Julia said that she didn't want to go', the clause 'that she didn't want to go' is indirect speech. Her actual words were 'I don't want to go'.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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