Speech first: inverted commas and punctuation rules | Exit Quiz | Oak National Academy

In this sentence, which words should have inverted commas around them? What a mess cried Miss Ofoedu.

• what a

• what a mess

• what a mess cried

• what a mess cried Miss Ofoedu

Answer explanation

We place inverted commas around the words the character said out loud to signal to the reader which part of the sentence is spoken.

Which of these are the functions of the reporting clause?

• to say who is speaking

• to show the words the speaker said

• to show how the words were said

• to show where the speech begins

Answer explanation

The reporting clause tells the reader who is speaking and how, like 'bellowed Mr Clarke loudly'.

Which of the following sentences are rules for using direct speech?

• use a capital letter at the start of the speech

• finish the speech with closing punctuation (?,!)

• place inverted commas around the speech

• always finish the speech with a comma

Answer explanation

These are the most important rules for writing direct speech. The closing punctuation we use depends on what is being said and the emotion involved. Strong emotion may need an exclamation mark.

Which version below uses all the correct punctuation for this sentence? Stop talking shouted the headteacher loudly.

• "Stop talking! shouted the headteacher loudly."

• "Stop talking!" shouted the headteacher loudly.

• "Stop talking"! shouted the headteacher loudly.

Answer explanation

The closing punctuation for the direct speech comes inside the second inverted comma. The inverted commas go around the words that the character said out loud.

Match each piece of speech to the most appropriate closing punctuation to fill the gap.

• ,

• "We're going home ___________" sighed Jacob.

• ?

• "What's wrong __________ " asked Jun kindly.

• !

• "Shush___________" hissed Andeep with an aggressive tone.

Answer explanation

Exclamation marks are used at the end of direct speech to show characters' strong emotions. Question marks are used for questions. All other speech sentences need a comma.

Which rule has been broken in this speech first sentence? "I can't believe this" sighed Miss Ofoedu with a shake of her head.

• capital letter at the start of the direct speech

• full stop at the end of the reporting clause

• closing punctuation at the end of the direct speech

Answer explanation

The direct speech here could have an exclamation mark or a comma, depending on how strong an emotion we are trying to show . "I can't believe this," sighed Miss Ofoedu with a shake of her head.