Name:__________________

Date:___________________
Section: 6-_______________

English Do Now
QUOTATION
MARKS

Step 1: Take out your homework from last night and leave it on your writing
folder in the corner of your desk.
Step 2: Copy down tonight’s homework from the board.
Step 3: Complete the following exercise.

FOUR GOLDEN RULES FOR WRITING DIALOGUE

1. Put ______________________________ around everything that is actually
said by a character.

Example: You have a demerit said Mr. Woodward.

2. Punctuation marks (______________) always go ________________ the

quotation marks.

Example: Right: “What’s happening dude?” said Javier.

Wrong: “Nothing. What’s good my man”? replied Claudio.

3. When the speaker comes first, use a ___________ to introduce the

quotation:
Example: Shanice said, “I really like your shoes.”
When the quotation comes first, use a _____________ to introduce the
speaker.
Example: “I really like your shoes,” said Shanice.

4. Whenever a new person starts speaking, you must:

______________________________________________________________
Whenever you start a new paragraph, you must: ______________________
__________________and _______________________.
Example:
“Mr. Austin, I really like the tie you’re wearing today. Where did you
get it from?” asked Malcolm.
“I got it from this store on Newbury Street. I can’t remember the name,
but I’ll let you know when I think of it,” replied Mr. Austin.
 INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

Directions: Each of the following direct quotations contains an error. Fix the error using
the proper editing marks.
1. “Did you pass your homework over,” Aillen asked.
2. Mr. Austin shouted “Let’s get excited to learn some math!”
3. “I felt horrible after the Patriots lost, so I graded papers”, Mr. Wells complained.
4. “I just finished my business letter to President Bush”! exclaimed Tatiana.
5. “Did you have fun on the ski trip, Patrick”, asked Ms. Patel?

Directions: Correctly place punctuation and quotation marks in the following sentences:

1. I want pizza for lunch! screamed Alex

2. What do you want to eat asked Sean

3. My favorite school lunch is the chicken wings said Sarah

4. We are so happy David said Vacation will soon be around the corner

5. We love Licinia said our Tae Kwon Do Enrichment class.

6. Did Jossie say You should spend five hours studying

7. Spanish is a great Enrichment said Melissa It is always fun

8. Ms. Cheng said You must work hard on your Comp

9. Mr. Phillips asked Can you sing the birthday song

10. Adriana screamed I won the spirit stick

He said/She said…
When you write a dialogue, most of the time you are going to introduce the quotation
using the verbs "said" (past tense) or "says" (present tense). However, sometimes it's
nice to use some more vivid verbs. For example:
Replied Answered Asked
Screamed, Shrieked Exclaimed
Interrupted Stuttered Whispered
Called over Grunted Yelled