Punctuation in Spoken Dialogue

Place quotation marks around exact speech and punctuate speech tags.

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This worksheet uses common American English dialogue style. Put double quotation marks around the exact spoken words. A speech tag such as said Nia is outside those marks. A comma or period at the end of the spoken words goes inside the closing mark. A spoken question keeps its question mark instead of adding a comma.

Worked example

Compare these sentences: Jo said, "We are ready." "Are you ready?" she asked. The statement keeps its period inside the quotation marks; the question keeps its question mark before the lowercase speech tag.

The spoken words It is time, are inside quotation marks and a speech bubble. The tag said Kai. is outside the quotation marks. — "It is time," said Kai. Only the spoken words go inside the quotation marks.

1. Nia says the complete sentence We can begin. Choose the correct dialogue. Nia said, "We can begin." Nia said "We can begin". "Nia said, We can begin."

2. The tag follows a spoken statement. Choose the correct punctuation. "The train is here." said Jo. "The train is here", said Jo. "The train is here," said Jo.

3. The spoken words form a question. Choose the correct punctuation. "Is this our stop," she asked. "Is this our stop?" she asked. "Is this our stop?," she asked.

4. Read this dialogue: "I found it," said Eli. Which words form the speech tag? said Eli I found it I found it, said Eli

5. The tag interrupts one sentence. Choose the correct capitalization and punctuation. "After lunch," said Jo, "We will draw." "After lunch" said Jo "we will draw." "After lunch," said Jo, "we will draw."

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