Punctuation - speech marks and commas

11 Plus English - Preparation and Information

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Chai
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:41 pm

Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by Chai »

Can anyone please help with punctuation of these:

Do you know that girl asked Jill she seems to be waving at me

I think the answer is: "Do you know that girl?" asked Jill. "She seems to be waving at me."

stop shouted Jack the road is slippery

I think the answer is: "Stop" shouted Jack. "The road is slippery."

No I cannot go to your house to play tomorrow said Jack I have a dental appointment at 4 pm

I think the answer is: "No, I cannot go to your house to play tomorrow," said Jack. "I have a dental appointment at 4 pm."

No I cannot go to your house to play tomorrow said Jack because I have a dental appointment at 4 pm

I think the answer is: "No, I cannot go to your house to play tomorrow," said Jack, "because I have a dental appointment at 4 pm."

My query is when to put in the comma or full stop after the bit which says said Jack or said Jill (see highlighted portion in blue above in my answers). Hope my question makes sense.
Chai
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:41 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by Chai »

Another one:

If you keep still and quiet advised the farmer you may see the owlets in their nest

I thought the answer was

"If you keep still and quiet," advised the farmer, "you may see the owlets in their nest."

But the answer key says:

" If you keep still and quiet, " advised the farmer, " You may see the owlets in their
nest."

I looked at various pieces of texts and they all look different.
chicko-mum
Posts: 294
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:19 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by chicko-mum »

I think you would use a comma after Jack said when the two parts of speech are clauses of the same sentence but a full stop if the parts are complete sentences in their own right.
I would be inclined to use ! in "Stop!" shouted Jack. "The road is slippery."
Your answer looks right to me in the second post. Hopefully an expert will be along soon to give the correct info/answers. :D

Someone (yoyo I think?) posted this link previously for commas in general:
http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/dep ... ode09.html
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by yoyo123 »

Chai
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:41 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by Chai »

Thanks Yoyo for this. Ok, so going by the sandwich rule:

No, I cannot come today said Jason I have to go to the dentist at 4 pm.

I would have to write the sentence this way:

No, I cannot come today. I have to go to the dentists at 4 pm.

Therefore, answer is:

"No, I cannot come today," said Jason. "I have to go to the dentist at 4 pm. "

On the other hand, if I had this other sentence to punctuate:

No I cannot come today said Jason because I have to go to the dentist at 4 pm

I would have to write the sentence this way:

No, I cannot come today, because I have to go to the dentist at 4 pm.

Therefore correct answer is:

"No, I cannot come today," said Jason, "because I have to go to the dentist at 4 pm."

Note the full stop or comma after said Jason. Which one is it? Sorry, this is so longwinded. I have picked apart other texts and there seems to be no uniform rule.

thanks
fm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by fm »

Both of your examples are fine and you have understood each circumstance perfectly.

I don't know which book you are using but there are some on the market which are, to my mind, issuing wrong information. Two years ago, I bought a punctuation book to use with my pupils from a well known publisher of study books (one with initials) . It was littered with punctuation errors despite the book being on the subject of punctuation. It was so bad I telephoned the publisher and suggested they should employ an expert to do some serious revision on it. In fact they suggested I might want to proofreadit for them--for free!
JaneEyre
Posts: 4843
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 1:04 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by JaneEyre »

Oh dear! What bad news if there are improper books about punctuayion on the market! :shock:
I just got the punctuation book (Rles and Practice) written by Susan J. Daughtrey M.ED.

fm, do you know if they are correct or not? :cry:
Chai
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:41 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by Chai »

Thanks fm for your help. I am not sure I quite understood it. This morning, I was looking at another one. It says:

"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"

I am confused. I would have thought the answer was:

"Bah," said Scrooge, "humbug!"

Or is it:

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"

Jane, Susan Daughtrey is the one I used. I found it reliable. It just does not have as much on speech marks/direct speech as I would have liked because for us, the Essex English paper features this.

I think I am going to lie down for a bit. The speech marks are really doing my head in.
JaneEyre
Posts: 4843
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 1:04 pm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by JaneEyre »

Chai wrote:
Jane, Susan Daughtrey is the one I used. I found it reliable. It just does not have as much on speech marks/direct speech as I would have liked because for us, the Essex English paper features this.
Thanks Chai... We'll get immersed into the first book during the summer...
Hope you master the speech marks by now! Good luck! :D
fm

Re: Punctuation - speech marks and commas

Post by fm »

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"

This is where he makes two separate exclamations, first exclaiming Bah followed by him exclaiming Humbug. You would not, in my opinion, have a comma after Scrooge in such circumstances.

"Bah," said Scrooge, "humbug!"

This would be him saying bah in a normal intontation followed by an exclamation of humbug which seems a little unlikely.

Anyway, I shouldn't overcomplicate it for the child. Just give them a rule they can understand. If you'd write them as two separate sentences, then it's full stop followed by capital letter for the second part in direct speech. If there's a connective in the second part of the direct speech, then basically it will be comma, small letter at connective.

I certainly wouldn't expect an 11 year old to be au fait with the niceties of punctuation when most adults aren't.

I haven't seen Susan Daughtrey punctuation but I would be surprised if it isn't up to scratch. Everything else I have used of hers has been of high standard.
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now