Direct Speech

Direct speech means using the actual words spoken (or written) by someone.
Ex: (1) "That's our car," he said.

The words That's our car are in direct speech. In English we normally use ' ' or " " (quotation marks or quotes) at the beginning and end of the words in direct speech.

The direct speech can be placed at the beginning (see example (1) above), at the end (see example (2) below), or at the beginning and end of the sentence (see example (3) below).
(2) He said, "That's our car."
(3) "That," he said, "is our car."

If the direct speech is an exclamation or a question, place the ! or ? before the closing "quote", even if it is in the middle of the sentence.
"That's our car!" shouted Sam. COMPARE: Sam shouted, "That's our car!"
"Where's our car?" asked John. COMPARE: John asked, "Where's our car?"

I hope this article helps. If you have any question, please leave a comment below.