1. Giving Your Character Life By Using Quotation Marks
Punctuating Dialogue
Giving Your Character Life
By Using Quotation Marks
©2014HappyEdugator

2. Using Quotation Marks in Dialogue
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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. The End

12. 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!

13. 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 address is
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Deborah Hayes
Aka HappyEdugator