diff --git a/scripts/qmp/qmp-shell b/scripts/qmp/qmp-shell
index 1df2ca7eef..65280d29d1 100755
--- a/scripts/qmp/qmp-shell
+++ b/scripts/qmp/qmp-shell
@@ -195,6 +195,13 @@ class QMPShell(qmp.QEMUMonitorProtocol):
         self.__cli_expr(cmdargs[1:], qmpcmd['arguments'])
         return qmpcmd
 
+    def _print(self, qmp):
+        jsobj = json.dumps(qmp)
+        if self._pp is not None:
+            self._pp.pprint(jsobj)
+        else:
+            print str(jsobj)
+
     def _execute_cmd(self, cmdline):
         try:
             qmpcmd = self.__build_cmd(cmdline)
@@ -206,15 +213,13 @@ class QMPShell(qmp.QEMUMonitorProtocol):
         # For transaction mode, we may have just cached the action:
         if qmpcmd is None:
             return True
+        if self._verbose:
+            self._print(qmpcmd)
         resp = self.cmd_obj(qmpcmd)
         if resp is None:
             print 'Disconnected'
             return False
-
-        if self._pp is not None:
-            self._pp.pprint(resp)
-        else:
-            print resp
+        self._print(resp)
         return True
 
     def connect(self):
@@ -250,6 +255,9 @@ class QMPShell(qmp.QEMUMonitorProtocol):
         else:
             return self._execute_cmd(cmdline)
 
+    def set_verbosity(self, verbose):
+        self._verbose = verbose
+
 class HMPShell(QMPShell):
     def __init__(self, address):
         QMPShell.__init__(self, address)
@@ -327,7 +335,7 @@ def die(msg):
 def fail_cmdline(option=None):
     if option:
         sys.stderr.write('ERROR: bad command-line option \'%s\'\n' % option)
-    sys.stderr.write('qemu-shell [ -p ] [ -H ] < UNIX socket path> | < TCP address:port >\n')
+    sys.stderr.write('qemu-shell [ -v ] [ -p ] [ -H ] < UNIX socket path> | < TCP address:port >\n')
     sys.exit(1)
 
 def main():
@@ -335,6 +343,7 @@ def main():
     qemu = None
     hmp = False
     pp = None
+    verbose = False
 
     try:
         for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
@@ -346,6 +355,8 @@ def main():
                 if pp is not None:
                     fail_cmdline(arg)
                 pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=4)
+            elif arg == "-v":
+                verbose = True
             else:
                 if qemu is not None:
                     fail_cmdline(arg)
@@ -370,6 +381,7 @@ def main():
         die('Could not connect to %s' % addr)
 
     qemu.show_banner()
+    qemu.set_verbosity(verbose)
     while qemu.read_exec_command(qemu.get_prompt()):
         pass
     qemu.close()