1. U SING Q UOTES IN Y OUR W RITING Marlena Simmons English 1H

2. U SE Q UOTATION MARKS TO SHOW A PERSON ’ S EXACT WORDS Direct Quote “Is English my favorite class of the day?” Mike asked. Indirect Quote Mike told Andrew that English was his favorite class.

3. A DIRECT QUOTE STARTS WITH A CAPITAL LETTER “ W hat is your favorite class?” Andrew asked. Mike excitedly replied, “ E nglish class, of course!”

4. W HEN A QUOTE IS DIVIDED BY A PHRASE, THE SECOND PART BEGINS WITH A LOWER CASE LETTER “I agree,” said Andrew, “ t hat’s my favorite class of the day too!”

5. C OMMAS AND PERIODS THAT END THE QUOTE ARE ALWAYS PLACED INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS “I wish I had two periods of English, ” Mike sighed. With a wishful glance, Andrew said, “Me too. ”

6. U SE A COMMA TO INTRODUCE A QUOTE. T HIS COMMA GOES OUTSIDE THE QUOTE ! When talking about her love of literature, Nicole gushed, “Shakespeare is my favorite writer!”

7. All quotes should be tied to your writing; they should clearly fit with the rest of the paragraph! Introduce them! Quotes should not just suddenly appear. Incorrect - “In order to get into high school, you had to take a pretty big test.” Correct - Florence explained, “In order to get into high school, you had to take a pretty big test.”

8. V ARY THE W ORDS YOU U SE TO I NTRODUCE A Q UOTE o Explained o Whispered o Declared o Claimed o Believed o Remarked o Admitted o Assumed o Confessed o Complained o Joked o Implied o Suggested o Warned Instead of “said,” try…

9. Provide your own insights and observations about how the interviewee said the quote or how he/she looked or acted at this point. With a glimmer in her eye, she explained… Quietly, she admitted… His face got serious as he remembered… She leaned closer to me, and, as if revealing a deep secret…