DR.

SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

1 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Rules for using quotation marks,

commas and other punctuation in
dialogue

2 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Understanding Dialogue Punctuation

Other Punctuation and Capitalisation

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Practise and Summary of Learning

3 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

They enclose the exact words that a character said.

‘How’s your weekend?’ asked Teacher Elsa.

Remember

Quotation marks
always come in pairs.

4 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Quotation marks are like hands.

They hold within them all spoken words.

‘How’s your weekend?’ asked Teacher Elsa.

5 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Commas are used in dialogue in two ways:

Arlo replied, ‘I went to the ‘I visited the zoo,’

beach with my family.’ answered Lana.

Use a comma ( , ) to set off 6

dialogue tags. These are phrases
that identify the speaker. Place the comma ( , ) inside the
quotation marks when a dialogue
Examples of dialogue tags include tag follows the quotation.
asked, called, said, answered,
exclaimed, whispered, etc.

6 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Can you name other punctuation marks used when writing dialogues?

‘How’s your weekend?’ asked Teacher Elsa.

End the dialogue with:

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a question mark ( ? ) if it is a question Finish your sentence

with a period after
an exclamation mark ( ! ) if it expresses the dialogue tag.
strong feelings

Only place punctuations inside the quotation

marks when they are part of the quotation.

7 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Always capitalise the beginning of a sentence,

regardless of the punctuation before it.

‘That sounds like Teacher Elsa asked,

a great weekend,’ ‘Anyone else have a fun
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said Teacher Elsa. adventure to share?’

8 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Can you identify the missing punctuation

in the dialogue below?

Lily, do you want to Sure, Toby! replied

be part of our soccer Lily Where can I sign
team asked Toby up for the tryouts

9 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Can you identify the missing punctuation

in the dialogue below?

‘Lily, do you want to ‘Sure, Toby!’ replied

be part of our soccer Lily. ‘Where can I sign
team?’ asked Toby. up for the tryouts?’

10

10 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Can you help me

with our reading
assignment?
Sure! Which part
is a bit tricky for
you?

Rewrite Arlo and

Ava’s conversation.
Observe the use of 11
Arlo
correct punctuation
and capitalisation.
Ava

11 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

‘Can you help me with our

reading assignment?’ Arlo asked.

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‘Sure!’ answered Ava.
‘Which part is a bit tricky for you?’

How did you do? Did you remember to use quotation marks and other punctuations correctly?

12 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Correct punctuation Other punctuations

in dialogue helps Quotation marks used in dialogues are
readers identify who enclose a character’s comma, period,
the speaker is and exact words. question mark and
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what they’re saying. exclamation point.

13 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

Below are examples of incorrectly punctuated dialogue. Identify

why they are incorrect and write the corrected version.

You need to get off the bus here’ said the driver.

Eloise exclaimed I think the answer is 40!

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‘Did you see a koala’ asked Ava

‘That’s all the money I have, explained Colin.

14 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

ANSWER KEY

‘You need to get off the bus here,’ said the driver.

Eloise exclaimed, ‘I think the answer is 40!’

‘Did you see 15a koala?’ asked Ava.

‘That’s all the money I have,’ explained Colin.

15 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)

DR. SONEY LAL PATEL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KANPUR

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16 SUBJECT- ENGLISH (CLASS V-VIII)