4 mistakes learners make with punctuating speech, each one named and explained.
The punctuation belongs to the words spoken, so it sits inside the speech marks.
'"Wait for me" she called' is chosen, with nothing separating the speech from who said it.
The sentence is not finished, so a full stop feels wrong, and nothing else obviously belongs there instead.
Question. "Wait for me" she called
A common answer. no punctuation before the closing mark
The answer. "Wait for me," she called
Why. The speech has ended but the sentence has not, and that is exactly what a comma marks.
Speech that is followed by who said it ends in a comma, inside the marks.
'The teacher said, "please sit down"' is chosen, with the speech beginning in lower case.
The sentence has already begun, so a capital in the middle of it looks wrong.
Question. The teacher said, "..."
A common answer. please sit down
The answer. Please sit down
Why. The speech is a new sentence of its own, however far into the line it starts.
Speech starts a fresh sentence, so it starts with a capital.
'"Wait for me", she called' is chosen, with the comma after the closing mark.
The comma is separating the speech from the narration, so it looks like it belongs between them rather than inside one of them.
Question. "Wait for me", she called
A common answer. the comma sitting outside the marks
The answer. "Wait for me," she called
Why. The punctuation belongs to the words that were spoken, so it goes in with them.
Everything the speaker said, including its punctuation, goes inside the marks.
Only half the spoken words are enclosed, or the narration is dragged inside the marks, as in 'Come inside now, called" Mum".'.
The marks are remembered as decoration that goes somewhere near the speech, rather than as a pair that has to open exactly where the speaking starts and close exactly where it stops.
Question. Mum called: come inside now.
A common answer. Come inside now, called" Mum".
The answer. "Come inside now," called Mum.
Why. The marks open at the first spoken word and close after the last one, and nothing else goes inside.
Underline the words actually said aloud. The marks go around exactly those.
WAJD spots these patterns in your child's answers and names the one behind their wrong answers, instead of just marking them wrong.