Last week we looked at using correct punctuation with dialogue. Dialogue refers to what's said in a conversation, but how does one show that in writing?
"We know!" you all exclaimed today. "You use quotation marks!" "Yes, you are right!" I replied. "Let's talk about using correct punctuation with quotation marks!" "Yippee!" you all cried. "We can't wait!" "Well," I said, "let's get going then!" The main job of quotation marks is to show or set off the exact spoken or written language that someone has used (a.k.a. the direct quote). To use quotation marks correctly, we have to surround what the speaker has said with the quotation marks, including the end punctuation we imagine goes with it.* Remember that the end punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks because it is part of the quoted thought. Once we have used quotation marks to show what a speaker has said, we can add information about who is doing the speaking. The part of our writing that shows who is doing the speaking is NOT included in our quotation marks, because it is not part of what the speaker has said. It DOES need a period after it, though, if it comes at the end of the sentence. Look at these examples: Direct quote: "What book are you reading?" Add speaker: "What book are you reading?" asked Alagan. Direct quote: "We're reading Blood on the River. It's awesome!" Add speaker: "We're reading Blood on the River. It's awesome!" responded Hansumjen. Direct quote: "Huh! That's your opinion!" Add speaker: "Huh! That's your opinion!" snorted McMadmad. *Here comes the twist! There is one more punctuation mark that makes an appearance in most dialogues, and that mark is the comma. Remember that the comma is a separator...it separates things. Commas are super flexible, very important punctuation marks, but, I will be honest, the comma can be tricky. Watch the little stunt it pulls here: Direct quote: "Glenshire students trick-or-treat for UNICEF." Add speaker: "Glenshire students trick-or-treat for UNICEF," Mrs. Gauthier said proudly. WHOA! What is that comma doing AFTER the direct quote and INSIDE the quotation marks? It kicked the period off the end of the direct quote and put itself in the period's place, and, crazily enough, that is what you have to do every time you add a speaker after a direct quote that ends in a period. There is no such thing in grammar as "Glenshire students trick-or-treat for UNICEF." Mrs. Gauthier said proudly. (If you have time, stop and ponder why a period gets replaced by a comma, but an exclamation point or question mark does not.) And that's not all! Now look at what happens when we add the speaker at the beginning: Add speaker: Mrs Gauthier said proudly, "Glenshire students trick-or-treat for UNICEF." WHOA! Now what is that comma doing BEFORE the direct quote and OUTSIDE the quotation marks? Well, it's separating! It's separating the part of our sentence that is not quoted material from the direct quote. And that is the real function of commas in dialogue: to separate the direct quote from the added information, whether that added information comes at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of our sentence. Consider a few more examples: "You eat rats?" Sparrowpelt asked. "I'd rather go hungry!" "So would I," Cherrytail agreed. "Just thinking about rats makes me sick." "Where I come from," Stick mewed drily, "you'll eat anything you can get." Leafstar sympathized, "I guess when you're really hungry, you don't feel so picky." Try writing your own sentence or two of dialogue using quotation marks and punctuation correctly. Have fun! This is where many new stories begin! Read these sentences about an unprotected egg-drop in a class, and think about what they have in common:
"I visited Mrs. Bockius's classroom today, and guest speakers were conducting an egg experiment. Mrs. Bockius divided the students into groups, and each group created a landing pad for eggs. Every group tested their landing pad, but some eggs did not survive the fall! " All of these sentences are about the egg-drop experiment, and they are also all COMPOUND SENTENCES. In fact, every sentence I have written before this one is a compound sentence! Remember that compound sentences are combined from shorter, complete sentences that could have stood on their own. Watch: I visited Mrs. Bockius's classroom today. Guest speakers were conducting an egg experiment. These are two perfectly fine, complete sentences on their own. Add a comma and a conjunction and you have the magic of a compound sentence: I visited Mrs. Bockius's classroom today, andguest speakers were conducting an egg experiment. Complete sentence + comma + conjunction + complete sentence = COMPOUND SENTENCE! Why would we want to use compound sentences? Well, we wouldn't ALL the time, but a little variety in our sentence structure makes our writing more interesting to our reader. Also, as we've discussed before, combining related ideas often helps our writing be more direct, clear and powerful. Look for and highlight conjunctions in your own writing. Then see if that conjunction is linking two complete sentences together. If it is, make sure you separate those two complete thoughts with a comma before that conjunction. You have a compound sentence! More examples of COMPOUND SENTENCES: Armeck growled at the girls, so they all ran away screaming! I couldn't open the door on my own, but Samsam arrived to help me. Trevian J helps me with math, and I help him with spelling. Students enjoyed a beautiful day of learning in the fen at Sagehen. Students studied abiotic and biotic items, found lots of macro invertebrates in the stream, identified plants, and caught insects in the meadow.
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June 2015
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