Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, indirect discourse (US), or ōrātiō oblīqua (/əˈreɪʃɪoʊ əˈblaɪkwə/ or /oʊˈrɑːtɪoʊ ɒˈbliːkwə/), is the practice, common in all Latin historical writers, of reporting spoken or written words indirectly, using different grammatical forms. Passages of indirect speech can extend from a single phrase to an entire paragraph, and this style was generally preferred by Roman historians to the direct speech commonly found in Greek authors.