How to use SPEECH MARKS Learn with Examples

speech marks speech marks are sometimes known as inverted commas or quotation marks there are some important rules you should learn in order to use speech marks correctly the main purpose of speech marks is to show that someone is speaking speech marks go around the actual words that someone says let's take look at an example what should we do on the weekend asked sophie this is direct speech it tells you what sophie actually said so you need speech marks at the start and end of the speech it's important to note that you should only use speech marks if you quote exactly what someone has said let's take look at an example sophie asked what they should do on the weekend this is an example of indirect speech you don't know what exactly was said therefore as there is no actual speech in the sentence you don't need speech marks key rule you should remember is that speech marks always begin with capital letter even if it starts in the middle of sentence let's have look at an example lucy cried this isn't fair notice that the has capital letter you should also remember that speech always ends with punctuation mark whether that's comma full stop exclamation mark or question mark the punctuation mark usually goes inside the second set of speech marks as shown in this example let's take look at how we should use punctuation with speech marks how are speech marks used with comma you should use comma if the sentence continues after the speech ends let's take look at an example think can hear noise from the bushes said lenny notice that the comma comes after bushes because the sentence continues after the speech has ended we should go inside now whispered molly the comma would come after now how should you use speech marks with full stop you should use full stop if the sentence ends when the speech ends let's have look at an example the girl suggested we'll take break here in this example comma is used to introduce the speech and full stop completes it as the sentence and speech both end harry whispered this place is super creepy again comma is used to introduce the speech and full stop is used to indicate that the speech and sentence both end how should you use speech marks with an exclamation mark you should use an exclamation mark if the speech shows strong feelings for example let's fight shouted the children the exclamation mark means you don't need comma to separate the speech from the rest of the sentence harry complained hate this weather again we would use an exclamation mark to show strong feeling how should you use speech marks with question mark you would use question mark if the speech is question for example what do you mean ask tim as with the previous example you don't need comma to separate the speech from the rest of the sentence as you are already using question mark claire asked what's wrong with you as this is question we would end it with question mark you would not need full stop at the end of the sentence it's important to note that there is an exception if the punctuation doesn't belong to the quotation it goes outside the speech marks for example how can he say it's over the question mark belongs to the main sentence not the quotation so it stays outside the speech marks did she really say love you in this example love you is not question but the whole sentence is so we add question mark after the closing speech marks you