Transcript Punctuating Dialogue

Giving Your Character Life
By Using Quotation Marks
©2014HappyEdugator

Use quotation marks to enclose a direct
quotation – a person’s exact words.

Our team leader says, “I try to practice every
day.”

“Let’s go home,” Jeanne suggested.
©2014HappyEdugator
Direct Quotations

A directly quoted sentence begins with a
capital letter.

Mrs. Talbot said, “Please get a pencil.”

Kristina asked, “Is it my turn?”
©2014HappyEdugator
Split Dialogue

When an expression identifying the speaker
interrupts a quoted sentence, the second part of
the quotation begins with a lowercase letter.

“Will you take care of my lawn and pets,” asked
Mr. Franklin, “while I’m on vacation next
month?”
* The expression identifying the speaker is called a
speaker’s tag.
©2014HappyEdugator
Split Dialogue

If a quoted sentence is divided, a comma
usually follows the first part and comes
before the second part.
 “Oh,”
Donna commented, “he’s probably
just saying that because he’s never had a cat.”
©2014HappyEdugator
Quote at the Beginning…

If a quotation mark comes at the beginning of
a sentence, a comma, question mark, or
exclamation point usually follows it.
“Dogs make better pets than cats do,” said Jared.
 “Have you ever had a cat?” Emily asked.
 “No, and I never will!” he replied.

©2014HappyEdugator
Quote at the End…

If a quotation comes at the end of a
sentence, a comma usually comes before it.

Terra asked, “What makes you say that?”
©2014HappyEdugator
Punctuation inside Quotes

A period or a comma should always be
placed inside the quotation marks.

“I can’t wait to see Shirley Caesar’s new video,”
James said. “It’s supposed to come out next
week.”
©2014HappyEdugator
The Exception to the Rule

A question mark or an exclamation point should
be placed inside closing quotation marks when
the quotation itself is a question or an
exclamation. Otherwise, it should be placed
outside. If placed on the outside, no punctuation
inside is required.




“What time will you be home from work, Mom?”
asked Michael.
Who said, “All the world’s a stage”?
“Stop!” yelled the crossing patrol.
What a surprise to hear Susana say, “We’re moving
back to Puerto Rico in June”!
©2014HappyEdugator
Don’t Be Afraid to Use
Dialogue in Your Writing!
Just be sure to use it thoughtfully. Make
every word a character says count. Never
overuse dialogue. It should be
supplemental to the description, and not
take over the whole composition.
The End
Suggested Activity

A great activity to do with this PowerPoint is to have the
kids write their own dialogues. I cut out of magazines
some interesting pictures of all kinds of different people
interacting. I glued them on cardstock, with the words
Who? What? Where? When? and Why? written on each
card, and laminated them. I passed the cards out, and
students had to imagine what the people were saying to
each other in the pictures, and then write the dialogue,
using correct punctuation. They also had to later
incorporate the dialogue into a short story that answered
the five W questions/ The kids enjoyed this activity and
got very creative with their stories!
Thank you for downloading my Punctuation: Punctuating Dialogue
PowerPoint. I hope that you enjoy the resource and get a lot of use out of it.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. My email address
is [email protected]
Commercial Graphics used with permission from the following: Microsoft
Design, GraphicStock.com
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Deborah Hayes
Aka HappyEdugator