What the difference between direct and indirect speech?

Direct speech implies a direct discourse, that uses the actual words of the speaker to report it.

Indirect speech refers to indirect discourse that delineates what a person said, in own words.

Explanation:

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.

at the beginning of the story, elisa just has the small idea of wanting more attention, but as the story progressed, her desire for more attention grew larger. before she talked to the man with the wagon she was just focused on her chrysanthemums but when she talked to him and got some attention she enjoyed it, so she decided to get all dolled up for henry. but when they were on the way to dinner she was so upset because she saw the flowers on the side of the road and realized the man didn't take interest in her like she thought.