1. “Yippee!” “Yahoo!” “Huh?”

2. Quotation marks are used to show the exact words that someone says. “Hello? Is anyone home?” asked Mr. Allen.

3. Quotation marks surround the speaker’s words. They always appear both before and after the quotation, for instance: “Language Arts is fun!” exclaimed Mrs. Barwick.

4. The speaker’s name can appear before, after, or in the middle of a quotation. Mrs. Barwick said, “Reading books is a great way to relax.” “I love eating chocolate at any time of the day,” whispered Mrs. Barwick. “I can’t wait,” said Mrs. Barwick, “for Wendy Mass to visit Engle.”

5. When the speaker is asking a question, the question mark goes inside the closing quotation mark. “Can you believe that Mrs. Jackson chased me down the hallway, and took my pencil box?” complained Mrs. Wolkoweicz.

6. If the person is speaking loudly or excitedly, the same goes for an exclamation point. “I just saw Mrs. Barwick skipping through the halls!” Mrs. Jackson shouted.

7. How do you know when to use quotation marks? Only use them if you are writing someone’s exact words. For instance, this sentence does not need quotation marks. Mr. Allen always talks about how wonderful social studies is.

8. However, this sentence does need quotation marks. “Social Studies is wonderful,” said Mr. Allen. It needs quotes because “Social Studies is wonderful” is exactly what Mr. Allen said.

9. Sandra Mason told her brother Rich that she was sure that their mother was planning a surprise party. Rich said, It is Dad’s birthday on Saturday. Have you heard her whispering on the phone? asked Sandra. Rich nodded and said that their mother hung up suddenly when he and Dad walked into the room.

10. Sandra Mason said eagerly, I think the party will be on Saturday. Rich said that they didn’t know for sure about the surprise party. Sandra agreed that they needed more evidence. Let’s play detectives and find out for sure, said Rich.