Topic 9 (session A) - Speech Presentation > Varieties of speech presentation in the novel > Task A > Our answer

Varieties of speech presentation in the novel

Task A - Our answer

Tessa's speech is in the Direct Speech (DS) form. It is in inverted commas and all of the deictic properties (e.g. tense, pronouns, the 'near' deictic demonstrative pronoun 'this' (cf. 'that') and the near deictic verb 'come' (cf. 'go') are all appropriate to her, the speaker. This use of the DS form is right up at the 'character' end of the speech presentation scale and so helps to foreground and dramatise her surprise. Note also the fact that no reporting clause is used, and the first sentence has three 'listed' clauses run together, which could just as easily have been separate sentences. The listing structure helps to suggest the embarrassed rush of her speech.

Edward's speech, on the other hand, is presented in the Narrator's Representation of a Speech Act form. All we are told is the speech act he uses ('explained') and the topic his explanation was about. This is much nearer the opposite, narrator-dominated, end of the speech presentation scale, and so backgrounds what he says. The explanation is clearly much less important than Tessa's surprise, let alone the kiss which follows it!

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