Dialogue and Quotation Marks — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Which sentence shows correctly punctuated dialogue?
A) "I'm leaving now," Mia said.
B) "I'm leaving now", Mia said.
C) "I'm leaving now" Mia said.
D) I'm leaving now, Mia said.
Commas that end a quoted sentence before a tag belong inside the closing quote.
2. Which line correctly uses an action beat?
A) She smiled, "Hello there."
B) She smiled. "Hello there."
C) She smiled "hello there."
D) She smiled; "Hello there."
Smiled is an action, not a speaking verb, so it ends with a period before the dialogue.
3. Which sentence correctly rewrites the indirect speech: Tom said that he was tired?
A) Tom said "that he was tired."
B) Tom said, "that he was tired."
C) Tom said, "I am tired."
D) Tom said: that he was tired.
Direct speech captures the speaker's first-person words inside quotation marks with proper punctuation.
4. Which sentence shows an internal thought rather than spoken dialogue?
A) "This is hard," Ana said.
B) "This is hard!" Ana shouted.
C) Ana muttered, "This is hard."
D) This is hard, Ana thought to herself.
Internal thoughts are not spoken aloud, so writers omit quotation marks and often italicize them.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Direct speech uses quotation marks; indirect speech does not.
Quotation marks identify the exact spoken words in direct dialogue.
2. Writers often use italics to show a character's silent thoughts.
Italic type signals an internal thought without using quotation marks.
3. Indirect speech: He said he was hungry. Direct speech: He said, "I am hungry."
First-person pronouns appear because direct dialogue captures the speaker's actual words.
4. When two characters argue, start a new paragraph for each speaker.
Indented paragraphs signal a change of speaker in a back-and-forth scene.
5. In the scene, an action beat replaces the word said.
Action beats describe what a character does instead of using the verb said.