Kia ora 9S
After reading your draft essays, one of the things that really jumped out at me, was the fact that many of you didn't know how to use quotation/speech marks e.g. where to place them, which way they face, whether to use a comma at the end etc.
So I thought that we might take a closer look at this writing discipline and capture a few notes for future reference. Speech marks are a little tricky, but you will be expected to embed quotations in your essays throughout your time at school, so it's worth getting it right early :)
Please record the following information.
Speech marks – which are also known as inverted commas – simply separate the words someone in a sentence actually says, from the rest of the sentence.
These words are called direct speech.
"I’ll be back home soon," Jim shouted to his mum.
There are some simple rules to follow:
"I’m going out now. Is that OK?" he asked.
Mum said quietly, "Please sit down."
Mum said quietly, "Please sit down."
"Please sit down," Mum said quietly.
Sometimes we can break the direct speech up by inserting information about who is speaking. This is the only time when you do not use a capital letter for the first word inside the speech marks. This is because the part that starts ‘you had better’ is still part of the same sentence that started before the interruption of ‘she said’.
"If you think you can speak to me like that," she said, "you had better think again!"
In the following example, what she says is in two separate sentences and so we need a comma and a full stop as well as a capital letter when she starts to speak again.
"Don't speak to me like that," she said. "Go up to your room."
These words are called direct speech.
"I’ll be back home soon," Jim shouted to his mum.
There are some simple rules to follow:
- Put every word that was said inside speech marks.
- Always use a capital letter for the first word of each sentence inside the speech marks:
"I’m going out now. Is that OK?" he asked.
Mum said quietly, "Please sit down."
- Separate the direct speech from the rest of the sentence, usually using a comma:
Mum said quietly, "Please sit down."
"Please sit down," Mum said quietly.
Sometimes we can break the direct speech up by inserting information about who is speaking. This is the only time when you do not use a capital letter for the first word inside the speech marks. This is because the part that starts ‘you had better’ is still part of the same sentence that started before the interruption of ‘she said’.
"If you think you can speak to me like that," she said, "you had better think again!"
In the following example, what she says is in two separate sentences and so we need a comma and a full stop as well as a capital letter when she starts to speak again.
"Don't speak to me like that," she said. "Go up to your room."
Now let's watch an educational 'YouTube' lesson on using quotation marks
But wait! There's More!
Let's watch John Lequizamo from 'The Electric Company' sing about quotation marks!
Let's watch John Lequizamo from 'The Electric Company' sing about quotation marks!
This is John Lequizamo - An American comedian, voice actor, producer, screenwriter and actor, who among other movies, starred in 'Ice Age'.
Finally...let's watch one more animated lesson from 'The Electric Company' on using quotation marks!
English Basics
Time to practice using quotation and/or speech marks. Please turn to pages 34 and 35 of our 'English Basics' books and
1. Read through the theory on page 34, then
2. Complete the activities on page 35
1. Read through the theory on page 34, then
2. Complete the activities on page 35