Punctuating Direct Speech

Punctuating Direct Speech

Review Lesson

Multiple Select

Which of these are dialogue?

• "Never say never!"

• Ben said that he wanted to borrow the guitar for the weekend.

• "Could I borrow a sticky note?"

• Niharika said

• the teachers announced

Multiple Select

Which of these are dialogue tags?

• Jaden thinks all pizza should have pineapple on it.

• the children said confidently

• "The square root of 47 is not 8... that's far too high."

• she whispered

• "Help!"

​Review: 5 Rules

1. Begin dialogue with capital letter: Mark said, "Hello."

2. ​... Unless the thought continues: "It really has been," Sarah sighed, "a long time."

3. ​Punctuation goes inside the speech marks: "Wow!" she cried.

4. ​Don't use periods to connect dialogue with the dialogue tag: "It's hot," he said.

5. ​New speaker? New paragraph! Speaker changes? New paragraph!

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

• Yuki cried, "my name isn't Nelson."

• Yuki cried, "My name isn't Nelson."

• Yuki cried, My name isn't Nelson.

• Yuki cried, my name isn't Nelson.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

• "Single stories," announced Adichie, "create stereotypes."

• "Single stories," announced Adichie, "Create stereotypes."

• "single stories," announced Adichie, "create stereotypes."

• "single stories," announced Adichie, "Create stereotypes."

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

• "Gothic literature", mused Ms. Lauren ",turns our fears into monsters."

• "Gothic literature", mused Ms. Lauren, "turns our fears into monsters."

• "Gothic literature," mused Ms. Lauren ",turns our fears into monsters."

• "Gothic literature," mused Ms. Lauren, "turns our fears into monsters."

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

• "But don't we have a AP Bio test on Thursday?", Shaurya asked.

• "But don't we have a AP Bio test on Thursday?" Shaurya asked.

• But don't we have a AP Bio test on Thursday", Shaurya asked.

• But don't we have a AP Bio test on Thursday," Shaurya asked.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

• "We told you to stay in your room," Mom and Dad said in unison.

• "We told you to stay in your room", Mom and Dad said in unison.

• "We told you to stay in your room." Mom and Dad said in unison.

​Quotes inside dialogue

​Sometimes, there are quotes inside quotes. Use single quotes to show this:

​"When doling out dessert, my grandmother always said, 'You may have a cookie for each hand.'"

Multiple Choice

Choose the correctly punctuated option:

• "Did you ever hear," John asked, "about the flooding of 2021? CNA said, "It's catastrophic!""

• "Did you ever hear," John asked, "about the flooding of 2021? CNA said, 'It's catastrophic!''

• "Did you ever hear," John asked, "about the flooding of 2021? CNA said, 'It's catastrophic!"'