Name______

Date______

Period______

Remember the Golden Rules

  • Use quotation marks when a person speaks.
  • Always use some punctuation (comma, period, question mark, exclamation mark ,etc) right before the end of the quote.
  • When you start a new idea in a piece of writing, begin a new paragraph.
  • Start a new paragraph when a new person is introduced or begins an action.
  • Start a new paragraph every time a different person speaks.

For example:

Ray tripped and fell. “I can’t get up!” he shouted.

His mother ran into the room. “Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m on the floor,” he replied.

Please correct the following dialog to show the correct quotation marks, punctuation and paragraphing.

Ms. Goldstein quieted the class. I have your essays here, class she was saying, and by large I was quite impressed with how inventive they were Molly Hardy took hers and frowned. An A minus? she asked incredulously. I got an A Alicia Gianelli cried happily, and Molly glared at her. There must be some mistake Molly said and Alicia stopped smiling and glared back. Shirley watched and nodded as Bart and Dan examined their grades. What’d you get Bart asked. He showed Dan his paper. Dan quickly slipped his essay into his book bag. Language Arts grades are way too subjective he grumbled. Bart grinned. It was a rare moment of one-upmanship for him. Ms. Goldstein continued to pass back the essays and as she handed Shirley’s essay back, she exclaimed Shirley Holmes Comparing snow boarding to surfing was a clever idea. Shirley stared up at her Oh, and Shirley Yes Most great thinkers cannot spell either the teacher whispered, and they smiled at each other. Bo awoke with a start as the spitball hit him on the neck. He looked around and spotted, Stink, gesturing at him and pointing to their teacher. Just in time. Bo snapped to attention before Ms. Goldstein caught him dozing. Ms. Goldstein stood above Bo and handed him his essay folder. Bo, what happened she asked pointing at the paper. Bo, embarrassed, merely shrugged and uttered, Uuuuh. Please see me after class, okay? Ms. Goldstein said and returned to the front of the class.