1. Quotation marks

2. Tag Direct quotations “Are turtles considered reptiles?” asked Brian.
-Notice the capitalization of the first letter
-Notice the punctuation INSIDE
-Notice the use of a comma to separate the tag
Tag
Mimi said, “Reptiles are my favorite animals.”
“Are turtles considered reptiles?” asked Brian.
“The wildlife park opens at 9:00,” Jenny announced.
Mason said, “I think you’ll like learning about the animals.”

3. Direct quotations—interrupting tag
Use a comma or period after the tag, depending on the completeness of the first part of the quote
Incomplete
“Will you take care of my pets,” Mr. Yates asked, “while I’m on vacation?”
One quoted sentence with an interrupting expression
Complete
“Yes, I will,” said Ted. “You can count on me.”
New quoted sentence following the interrupting expression

4. Indirect quotations Juan said, “The bus was late today.”
Do not use quotation marks for an indirect quotation—a rewording of a direct quotation.
Juan said, “The bus was late today.”
Direct quotation
Juan said that the bus was late today.
Indirect quotation

5. Direct quotations
Place question marks and exclamation points inside the closing quotation marks if the quotation itself is a question or an exclamation.
“Does anyone want to go swimming?” Maria asked.
The quoted sentence is a question.
“Yes!” I answered. “Let’s leave now!”
Both direct quotations are exclamations.

6. Direct quotations—question marks and exclamation points
Place question marks and exclamation points inside the quotation marks if the quotation itself is a question or an exclamation.
If the sentence, not the quote, is the question or exclamation, place the punctuation outside the quotation marks
“Does anyone want to go swimming?” Maria asked.
What made Janice say, “I don’t even care anymore”?

7. Dialogue—new paragraphs
-Begin a new paragraph every time the speaker changes.
Other places to start new paragraphs in creative writing:
New Event
Time moves forward
New character enters
New topic becomes the focus

8. Quotations within quotations
Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation.
Ron said, “I’m sure Mrs. Lowell said, ‘Read the book by next Tuesday.’”
“Did Tracy really say, ‘I’ve read the whole book already’?” asked Evan.

9. Quotation marks for titles
Use quotation marks to enclose titles of short works such as short stories, poems, essays, articles, songs, and chapters from books.
Short story
“All Summer in a Day”
Song
“America the Beautiful”
Book chapter
“Landing on the Moon”

10. Other titles
Italicize for books, movies, TV series, newspapers, magazines, plays
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Canterbury Tales

11. What about underlining?
Underlining and italicizing are the same thing
Italicizing is for typing
Underlining is for writing