Direct Speech Punctuation
With our Direct Speech Punctuation lesson plan, students learn how to properly use commas and quotation marks when including quotations and direct speech in their writing.
Included with this lesson are some adjustments or additions that you can make if you’d like, found in the “Options for Lesson” section of the Classroom Procedure page. One of the optional additions to this lesson is to show a video of a conversation between two people and have students record the direct speech, using the correct punctuation.
Description
Additional information, what our direct speech punctuation lesson plan includes.
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Direct Speech Punctuation teaches students how to properly use commas and quotation marks when writing direct speech or quotations. This lesson is for students in 4th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the green box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. The only supplies needed for this lesson are the handouts, which you can copy ahead of time.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition to this lesson is to show a video of a conversation between two people and have students record the direct speech, using the correct punctuation. You can also use a story that includes dialogue as an example of correctly written direct speech.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
DIRECT SPEECH PUNCTUATION LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Direct speech.
The Direct Speech Punctuation lesson plan includes three content pages. The lesson begins by reminding students that, when they speak to other people, the words they say are their own, and the sentences are created by their minds and belong to them. Likewise, when you read a comic book, the speech bubbles indicate the words of a specific character. These are both examples of direct speech.
Direct speech is different from indirect speech, which is when you relay the words of someone else, often not word-for-word. For example, if your mom says to tell your little brother it’s time for dinner, you could relay her words as indirect speech ( Mom told me to tell you we have to go eat ) or direct speech ( Mom said, “It is time for dinner” ). Direct speech means you are relaying the exact words said by another person. When you use indirect speech, there aren’t any special punctuation marks that you need to us.
However, we do have specific punctuation for direct speech, like commas and quotation marks. We use these when we show the direct speech of another person or of a character in a book. We also use them when quoting from a text, like a speech or an article.
Punctuating Direct Speech/Quotations
While students are familiar with commas and how to use them, they might not have a lot of practice using quotation marks in their writing. We use quotation marks for writing quotes. They look like pairs of upside-down commas. We place them before and after the quote. We also sometimes call them speech marks.
In the example sentence Tom said, “I have decided to stay home from school today.” we put a quotation mark before the first word that he said ( I ) and after the last word that he said ( today ) and the period. We also use a comma after the word said . It’s important to note that we put the second quotation mark after the period or other punctuation, not before.
The lesson includes several other examples that illustrate how to properly use commas and quotation marks for direct speech quotations. Students should review these examples to better understand where and how to use punctuation with quotations. One important rule they will learn is that you need a new paragraph for each speaker change. For example:
Oliver asked, “Where am I?”
Isla quietly answered, “You are at school. Wake up.”
It’s important to remember that we must punctuate the actual words being spoken with quotation marks, placed at the start and end of what’s being said. We can also use commas after the part of the sentence that tells you who is speaking. You can use words other than said to indicate direct speech, like expressed, yelled, slowly said, silently answered , and more.
We also use quotation marks to mark quotations from a text. If you’re writing a report and want to include a sentence or fact from a book you read, you have to use quotation marks when using the exact wording from the book. The lesson includes an example of this.
Using proper punctuation for direct speech and quotations is very important, as it helps readers understand who is speaking and what they said.
DIRECT SPEECH PUNCTUATION LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Direct Speech Punctuation lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
RECORDING DIRECT SPEECH ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work in groups to complete the activity worksheet. To begin, two students in the group will choose a topic and discuss it for two minutes, taking turns speaking. Meanwhile, the other two members will write down as much of their conversation as possible using the space provided on the worksheet, listening carefully. They will then switch places and repeat. After both pairs have discussed a topic and recorded a conversation, they will take the information they’ve written down and correctly write the direct speech on the worksheet without using the word said .
CORRECTING SENTENCES PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to complete three exercises. The first asks them to correctly add commas and quotation marks to ten sentences where needed. Next, the second asks them to write a direct speech sentence for each of the given situations. The lesson provides an example for them to work from. Finally, the third asks them to read a paragraph and correctly add quotation marks where needed. They must also answer one final question about the paragraph.
DIRECT SPEECH PUNCTUATION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will complete three short exercises. For the first, they will correctly rewrite a paragraph, replacing the word said with a better word. Next, they will read another paragraph and will correctly add quotation marks where needed. Finally, they will think about a conversation they recently had and will correctly write some of it out on the lines provided.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
grade-level | 4th Grade |
---|---|
subject | Language Arts |
State Educational Standards | LB.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.2.B Lessons are aligned to meet the education objectives and goals of most states. For more information on your state objectives, contact your local Board of Education or Department of Education in your state. |
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Direct Speech
What is direct speech.
Direct speech is a sentence where the exact words spoken by somebody are recorded in inverted commas (also known as speech marks). Inverted commas are used to show which written words are spoken by the character and other punctuation is used to help the reader understand when each character starts and stops speaking. Usually, the spoken words are accompanied by a reporting clause which contains a speech verb and reveals the identity of the speaker.
How to punctuate direct speech
To punctuate direct speech, follow these simple rules:
Start a new line for each new speaker. This helps the reader to keep track of who is speaking.
Add a pair of inverted commas around the words spoken by the character. The first pair of inverted commas should go before the first spoken word and the second pair should go after the punctuation which follows the last spoken word.
Begin the spoken words with a capital letter.
Add closing punctuation to follow the last spoken word. This could be a comma, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark or even an ellipsis if the character's thoughts trail off.
Use a comma to separate the direct speech and reporting clause.
Our KS2 English Journey scheme based on the beautifully illustrated book by Aaron Becker, is a fantastic way to introduce children to direct speech punctuation.
Children tend to find rules three and four the most difficult so make sure you explicitly teach the following:
a. If the reporting clause comes before the spoken words , add a comma to separate the clause from the direct speech and a full stop within the inverted commas to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, Isa suggested, "Let's get a closer look."
b. If the reporting clause comes after the direct speech, add a comma (or other appropriate punctuation) within the inverted commas to indicate that the sentence continues and a full stop after the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested.
c. If the reporting clause comes in the middle of the direct speech, add a comma within the inverted commas for the first piece of speech, a comma after the reporting clause before the second piece of speech and a full stop following the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested, "I want to know where the tunnel leads."
When do we use direct speech?
Direct speech is used in narratives to reveal more about the thoughts, motivations and personalities of the characters, and to let new characters introduce themselves.
Using dialogue between characters is also a quick and engaging way to move on the plot of a story. For example, an instruction from a character is a useful plot device as it can prompt another character to act or move to another time or location (e.g. "Lock the door.","Go to the tower.", "Recover the diamond.").
Questions can let characters explain where they have been or what they have been doing offstage ("Why are you late?', "Where have you been?, "Why are you doing this?).
Statements can tell you more about a character's surroundings ("It's a beautiful day.", " That door wasn't there before.") or where they stand on a particular issue ("I don't agree.", "This is a risky plan.").
Inspire your children to write effective dialogue for an adventure story with our KS2 One Thousand and One Arabian Nights scheme.
Misconceptions when punctuating direct speech
Understanding and applying the rules for direct speech is no mean feat. Here are the top five misconceptions that children may have as they learn how to punctuate direct speech.
Children do not know to include punctuation inside the inverted commas.
Children do not know when to use a comma instead of a full stop inside the inverted commas.
Children incorrectly position inverted commas around the beginning and end of a full sentence rather than around the spoken words.
Children do not apply the new speaker, new line convention.
Children capitalise the first word in a reporting clause that comes in the middle or at the end of the speech sentence. This often accompanies a misuse of a full stop as closing punctuation inside the inverted commas.
Addressing these misconceptions needs careful and explicit teaching. Here are five top tips for teaching children how to punctuate direct speech in KS2.
Make sure to provide children with variety of examples which use different sentences structures.
Encourage children to find different speech sentences in their reading books and explore the similarities and differences between them.
Provide examples of incorrectly punctuated speech sentences and ask children to spot and correct the errors (identifying errors in given texts is so much less daunting than jumping straight into applying the rules within your own writing).
Give children focused editing time either as a discrete activity where children to add punctuation to unpunctuated text or where they spot and correct direct speech punctuation during independent writing.
Offer children the opportunity to read and perform their dialogue (as this can really help child get to grips with why punctuation is so important for the reader).
Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 3
Direct speech is introduced in the Year 3 English Curriculum. Here, children should be taught the correct terminology for 'inverted commas' and given opportunities to practise forming these correctly (during your regular handwriting sessions can work well). When children can identify and create inverted commas, they are ready to apply these to speech - adding opening and closing inverted commas around spoken words.
An engaging, hands-on activity to help children understand where to position the inverted commas in a speech sentence is to ask children to write speech sentences on whiteboards and add macaroni around the spoken words to represent the opening and closing inverted commas. This activity can be extended to include speech and a reporting clause to consolidate understanding and to address the misconception that inverted commmas are used at the beginning and end of the sentence, rather than at the beginning and end of the spoken words.
Introduce your children to direct speech with our magical Year 3 The Snowman scheme which provides children with the foundations for punctuating direct speech.
Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 4
In Year 4, the focus should be mastering all of the punctuation required to indicate direct speech. This includes the use of a comma to separate the reporting clause from the piece of speech as well as using punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”. Children will need plenty of modelled examples as to when to use the different punctuation marks inside inverted commas to get to grips with when to use a comma, full stop and other punctuation.
By the end of Year 4, children should be able to choose more precise speech verbs for their reporting clause, using verbs such as growled, snarled, whispered, mumbled to let the reader know more about the speaker's personality or mood.
One way to help chidren understand the rules of punctuating direct speech is to use a text message template to show an exchange of dialogue between characters. This helps children understand that the speech for each character starts on a new line. It is also helpful for reinforcing the learning point from Year 3, that only the spoken words should be included within the opening and closing inverted commas. Children can use the speech given in the model as the basis for writing their own dialogue between the two characters, constructing their own reporting clauses using appropriate speech verbs and adverbs.
Why not use the our KS2 English Journey scheme or our Text to Speech FreeBee to give children an opportunity to practise using direct speech in their writing?
Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 5
In Year 5, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences, positioning the reporting clause at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the spoken words. Here, children should consider the impact of these choices on pace and intensity. Children should be taught that the reporting clause can reveal a lot about how the words are spoken and the character of the speaker and start to experiment with adding additional clauses to add further contextual detail.
As children become more proficient with the direct speech punctuation and sentence structure, the focus of teaching should shift to encouraging children to write coherent and effective dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story.
Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 6
By Year 6, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences and extend these to provide the reader with extra details about the speaker or their environment. Children should continue to write dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story,. The focus of teaching should shift to ensure that the children can integrate dialogue well into their narratives and that they know how to strike a balance between dialogue and description to produce an enjoyable or gripping experience for the reader.
In additon, children should also be taught how and when to use the structures associated with formal and informal speech to help set the tone of their piece or to contextualise their writing within a certain time period. To do this, use texts which allow you to explore a variety of speech conventions used by different characters such as those by Arthur Conan Doyale (e.g. Sherlock Holmes) or Charles Dickens (e.g. Scrooge, the Artful Dodger).
LESSON PACK One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
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Direct speech: Varying punctuation and dialogue tags
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Lesson details
Key learning points.
- In this lesson, we will learn how to vary our punctuation marks in direct speech. We will also develop our understanding of how we can vary our dialogue tags for effect.
This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.
Starter quiz
5 questions, 6 questions, lesson appears in, unit english / writing accurate, correctly punctuated and paragraphed dialogue, using personal pronouns.
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Punctuating Direct Speech
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Have your class practice their punctuation by studying direct speech. A rather convoluted but fun way to explain speech marks is explained, using sheep, and punctuation marks to represent their pen. Your class will see how each word is contained using punctuation marks and will then practice the skills with more sentences. The concept of new speaker, new line is reinforced and you can practice further using any suggestions from your class to keep their interest.
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Punctuating Direct Speech Lesson Plan and Worksheet
Subject: English
Age range: 7-11
Resource type: Lesson (complete)
Last updated
30 May 2022
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The Direct Speech Punctuation lesson plan includes three content pages. The lesson begins by reminding students that, when they speak to other people, the words they say are their own, and the sentences are created by their minds and belong to them. Likewise, when you read a comic book, the speech bubbles indicate the words of a specific character.
Punctuating direct speech. Direct speech means the bits of a sentence that are actually being spoken; like the words you would find in a speech bubble. Punctuating direct speech can seem complicated. Here is a step‐by‐step guide to getting it right. Speech marks always need to go at the start and end of what is being said: "Are you coming ...
Direct speech - the term used for a character speaking out loud in a text. Inverted commas - a pair of punctuation marks that signal direct speech to the reader. Signal - show or direct attention to. Ensure that you use the same graphics for speech punctuation (as shown in the slides) consistently in all grammar and writing lessons to support ...
A lesson plan and worksheet on punctuating direct speech, with the worksheet using lines from fairy tale stories. There is a zipped folder containing a PDF version and an editable version of each file: - a lesson plan on punctuating direct speech - a page with examples to model how to punctuate direct speech (which can be seen in the preview): - a worksheet with lines from fairy tales on which ...
Direct speech is a sentence where the exact words spoken by somebody are recorded in inverted commas (also known as speech marks). Inverted commas are used to show which written words are spoken by the character and other punctuation is used to help the reader understand when each character starts and stops speaking.
This is a fantastic resource and lesson planning ideas pack that can teach key skills in writing, punctuating and recognising direct speech at a KS2 level. This pack brings you 12 beautifully illustrated, teacher-made resources, including: Direct speech KS2 speech bubbles - brilliant for display or interactive learning to give your KS2 examples ...
Key learning points. In this lesson, we will learn about the difference between direct speech and indirect speech and how to punctuate direct speech correctly. This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.
In this lesson, we will learn how to vary our punctuation marks in direct speech. We will also develop our understanding of how we can vary our dialogue tags for effect. This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.
pdf, 275.17 KB. Year 3/4 English - punctuating direct speech lesson plan and worksheets: - punctuating direct speech lesson plan. - punctuating direct speech worksheets with 2 levels of difficulty. There is a PDF of all of the files and an editable version of each file (you just need to delete the watermark logo from each of the editable files).
Punctuation There are two places where other forms of punctuation are needed when writing direct speech: "What's the matter, Dina?"said Sid. Examples of other punctuation in direct speech are: "How exciting it is!"exclaimed Sarah. "I don't know what to do,"said Sayeed. You will need to finish your sentence with a full stop after
A year 3 lesson pack on how to use inverted commas and correctly punctuate direct speech. This pack features a lesson plan, PowerPoint and various worksheets. ... The lesson pack contains a lesson plan, lesson presentation and accompanying worksheets to scaffold children's learning. The lesson pack also includes an additional consolidation ...
Find direct speech punctuation lesson plans and teaching resources. Quickly find that inspire student learning. Search Search educational resources Search Menu Sign ... Direct speech, and the use of quotation marks, are the focus of this language arts presentation. The story, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is used to illustrate examples ...
With our Direct Speech Punctuation lesson plan, students learn how to properly use commas and quotation marks when including quotations and direct speech in their writing. Included with this lesson are some adjustments or additions that you can make if you'd like, found in the "Options for Lesson" section of the Classroom Procedure page.
A lesson plan and worksheet on punctuating direct speech, with the worksheet using lines from fairy tale stories. There is a zipped folder containing a PDF version and an editable version of each file: - a lesson plan on punctuating direct speech - a page with examples to model how to punctuate direct speech (which can be seen in the preview): - a worksheet with lines from fairy tales on which ...
Punctuation: Inverted commas. Resource type. Student activity. A drama activity using everyday scenarios to help children start to devise and write direct speech. Children are given a scenario such as a rainy playtime or dinner queue to create a freeze frame for before composing their own direct speech. This resource is an ideal group activity ...
Fine Print: Educational Use. View 32,190 other resources for 4th Grade English Language Arts. This Punctuating Direct Speech PPT is suitable for 4th Grade. Have your class practice their punctuation by studying direct speech. A rather convoluted but fun way to explain speech marks is explained, using sheep, and punctuation marks to represent ...
This is a fantastic resource and lesson planning ideas pack that can teach key skills in writing, punctuating and recognising direct speech. This pack brings you 12 beautifully illustrated, teacher-made resources, including: Direct speech KS2 speech bubbles - brilliant for display or interactive learning to give your KS2 examples of direct speech.
Featured This Month: Media and Digital Literacy: Lesson Plans and Resources; Grade Level Grade Level PreK; Elementary (Grades K-2) Elementary (Grades 3-5) Middle School; High School ... A range of tasks and activities on punctuating direct speech. Aligned to Common Core State Standard: L.3.2 , L.4.2. Language Lesson Plans. Resources. Files ...
Ashley's literacy lesson on direct speech breaks down the important rules of using punctuation and features the following benefits: Lesson provides children with the opportunity to create and punctuate their own dialogue. Use of intention is carefully explained. Reporting verbs are examined in detail for use when describing.
Year 3 English - punctuating direct speech lesson plan and worksheets: - punctuating direct speech lesson plan. - punctuating direct speech worksheets with 2 levels of difficulty. There is a PDF of all of the files and an editable version of each file (you just need to delete the watermark logo from each of the editable files).
A lesson plan and worksheet on punctuating direct speech, with the worksheet using lines from fairy tale stories. There is a zipped folder containing a PDF version and an editable version of each file: - a lesson plan on punctuating direct speech - a page with examples to model how to punctuate direct speech (which can be seen in the preview): - a worksheet with lines from fairy tales on which ...
A lesson plan and worksheet on punctuating direct speech, with the worksheet using lines from fairy tale stories. This lesson is best taught with computers or laptops, but can be completed on paper too. Please ignore the file ending in (preview for TES), as this file has only been uploaded to generate a preview image for the resources.
pdf, 266.3 KB. Year 3 punctuating direct speech lesson plan and worksheet: - punctuating direct speech lesson plan. - punctuating direct speech worksheet. There is a PDF of all of the files and an editable version of each file (you just need to delete the watermark logo from each of the editable files). You can find more KS2 English lesson ...