Speech, extra information and precise punctuation

Short lesson

Direct speech gives the exact spoken words inside inverted commas. Begin the speech with a capital. Put the speech's end punctuation inside the closing inverted commas. A new speaker usually starts a new paragraph. Single or double inverted commas can be used consistently.

“Wait here,” said Iqbal. The comma separates the speech from the following reporting clause. “Are you ready?” asked Iqbal. The question mark replaces that comma, and asked still begins with a lower-case letter. If the reporting clause comes first: Iqbal said, “Wait here.”

Parenthesis adds extra information that can be removed without breaking the core sentence. You can enclose it in commas, brackets or paired dashes. Keep pairs complete when the sentence continues afterwards.

Year 6 extension: a semicolon can link closely related independent clauses: “The stage was dark; the audience waited.” Both parts could be sentences. A colon can introduce an explanation or a list after a complete clause: “We brought three things: string, paper and glue.” Do not insert one between a verb and its objects in “We brought string and glue.”

A hyphen can connect parts of a compound and prevent ambiguity; a dash separates information. In “a small-animal shelter”, small describes the animals. “A small animal shelter” may instead describe the shelter's size. Not every group of adjectives needs a hyphen.

Worked example

Unpunctuated: “is it time asked Rosa”. Correct: “Is it time?” asked Rosa. The words Rosa says are a question. We do not add a comma after the question mark or put asked Rosa inside the speech marks.

Try it

Have a go on paper or say your answer aloud, then open the answer.

1. Core

   Punctuate: “please close the window said Amir”. Use Please close the window as the spoken words.

   Show answer 1

   “Please close the window,” said Amir. Accept consistent single inverted commas. Capitalise the speech, use a comma within its closing mark and end the whole sentence after Amir.

2. Core

   Punctuate: “have you seen my scarf asked Beth”. Explain why the reporting verb does not need a capital here.

   Show answer 2

   “Have you seen my scarf?” asked Beth. Asked continues the same reporting sentence, so does not need a capital merely because a question mark closes the quoted speech. Do not add a comma after that question mark.

3. Core

   Add brackets around the extra information: “The museum built beside the river opens at ten.” Use built beside the river as the parenthesis. Read the remaining sentence to check it.

   Show answer 3

   “The museum (built beside the river) opens at ten.” Removing the parenthesis leaves “The museum opens at ten.” Both brackets are needed because the sentence continues.

4. Year 6 extension

   Insert a colon or semicolon as appropriate: A. “Bring these items a notebook, a pencil and a ruler.” B. “The tide was rising we moved our bags.” Explain the different relationships.

   Show answer 4

   A: “Bring these items: a notebook, a pencil and a ruler.” The colon introduces the list after a complete imperative clause. B: “The tide was rising; we moved our bags.” The semicolon joins two related independent clauses. A colon in B could make a different explanatory relationship in other writing, but the supplied pair is most naturally used as above; discuss coherent alternatives rather than treating punctuation as arbitrary decoration.

5. Year 6 extension

   Explain the difference in meaning between “a small-animal shelter” and “a small animal shelter”. Then explain why “I packed; a torch and a map” misuses the semicolon and correct it.

   Show answer 5

   The hyphen groups small-animal: a shelter for small animals. Without it, small can describe the animal shelter's size; that version is potentially ambiguous, not necessarily a different physical building. The semicolon in “I packed; a torch and a map” wrongly divides a verb from its objects; the following phrase is not an independent clause. Correct: “I packed a torch and a map.”