Add the speech marks in the correct places
Excuse me, said the man. Can you tell me what the time is? I think it’s about 8 o’clock, replied Graham. I haven’t got my watch on but I remember seeing the time on the town hall clock a few minutes ago. The town hall! said the man. That’s just what I’m looking for. Can you point me in the right direction? Certainly, said Graham. You just go down there past the bank, turn left, go straight on and the town hall will be on your right hand side. Brilliant, said the man, Thanks for your help. That’s okay, said Graham.
Answers
Explanation:
Task One
Put the speech marks in the correct places. Remember: The speech marks go around what is being said.
“Hello,” said the man.
“What are you doing?” said Fred.
“Stop!” shouted the policeman.
“Wait a minute,” said Mark. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
“I know what we’ll do,” said Lucy. “We’ll go to the pictures.”
Task Two
Put the speech marks in the correct places once again. This time, however, you will also need to add all the other punctuation that is needed as well.
Watch out for any questions or exclamations.
“Hello,” said Greg.
“You look tired,” said Martin.
“Can I come in?” asked the man.
“No!” screamed the man.
“Come here,” said Grandma. “I want to see how much you have grown”
“Is that my bag?” asked Daniel. “I thought I’d lost it.”
“Run?” shouted Sally. “The dog is after us.”
“I know what I want for my birthday,” said Tina. “A brand new car”
Task Three
How many other words can you think of that you could use instead of the word said. Write down at least eight other words for said.
commented whispered rehearsed
joked screamed repeated
laughed squealed stated
barked bellowed puffed
yelled cried mumbled
announced asked replied
insisted yelped whimpered
mentioned wept howled
Task Four
For each of the eight words that you came up with in task three write a sentence with speech in that uses that word.
“Order in the court,” insisted the judge. “Order! Order! Order!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Screamed Alfie, when he was on the roller coaster.
Task Five
When you use speech marks you need to remember the rule – new speaker, new line.
Edit this paragraph. I’ve put in all the punctuation so make sure you copy that carefully. When you edit the paragraph make sure that you put each new speaker on a new line.
“I want to go swimming,” said Matthew.“I can’t stand staying indoors all day.” “I thought you had homework to do,” said Mum. “Oh Mum,” said Matthew. “I’ve almost finished it. Can’t I just take an hour off.” “Yes you can take an hour off,” said Mum. “But only when you’ve finished your work.” “But it’ll be closed if I don’t go soon!” said Matthew “Then you’d better get a move on, hadn’t you?” said Mum.
Task Six
This is almost the same as Task Five but this time you also have to add the speech marks in the correct places. It is quite tricky. You’ll probably need to read through the paragraph several time to work out what each character is saying.
“Excuse me,” said the man. “Can you tell me what the time is?” “I think it’s about 8 o’clock,” replied Graham. “I haven’t got my watch on but I remember seeing the time on the town hall clock a few minutes ago.” “The town hall!” said the man. “That’s just what I’m looking for. Can you point me in the right direction?” “Certainly,” said Graham. “You just go down there past the bank, turn left, go straight on and the town hall will be on your right hand side.” “Brilliant, said the man, Thanks for your help.” “That’s okay,” said Graham.