1. “ Quotation Marks “
• One of the principal uses of quotation marks is to
indicate what someone said (direct speech).
The reporter asked, “What happened at your farm
last night?”
Mr. Johnson said, “A UFO came down from the sky
and landed in my corn field.”

2. “ Quotation Marks “
• Capitalize the first letter of the quotation when it is
a complete sentence, and place end punctuation
inside the quotation marks if the sentence ends at
the end of the quotation.
The reporter asked, “What happened at your farm last
night?”
Mr. Johnson said, “A UFO came down from the
sky and landed in my corn field.”

3. “ Quotation Marks “
• Place a comma before the first set of quotation
marks.
The reporter asked, “What happened at your farm last
night?”
Mr. Johnson said, “A UFO came down from the
sky and landed in my corn field.”

4. “ Quotation Marks “
• You don’t have to place quotations only at the beginning
of a sentence. They can be anywhere within the
sentence.
“What was your first reaction?” asked the reporter.
(at the beginning)
“I thought it was awfully strange,” replied Mr.
Johnson. “Maybe some big-shot Hollywood producers are
filming a movie here.”
(broken up within the sentence)

5. “ Quotation Marks “
• If the quotation ends with a question mark, always
leave it before the last set of quotation marks.
“What was your first reaction?” asked the reporter.
• If the quotation should end with a period but is in the
middle of a sentence, replace it with a comma.
“I thought it was awfully strange,” replied Mr.
Johnson. “Maybe some big-shot Hollywood producers are
filming a movie here.”

6. “ Quotation Marks “
The reporter asked, “What happened at your farm last
night?”
Mr. Johnson said, “A UFO came down from the sky and
landed in my corn field.”
“What was your first reaction?” asked the reporter.
“I thought it was awfully strange,” said Mr. Johnson.
“Maybe some big-shot Hollywood producers are filming a movie
here.”
You don’t have to always use the same words: said
and asked. HOW BORING!!!

7. “ Quotation Marks “
Here are some other words you could use:
Added Cried Questioned
Advised Demanded Remarked
Agreed Exclaimed Replied
Announced Explained Responded
Answered Inquired Screamed
Argued Insisted Shouted
Begged Interrupted Sobbed
Cautioned Joked Teased
Commented Lied Warned
Complained Mentioned Whined
Confessed Mumbled Whispered
Continued Noted Yelled

8. Added
“ Quotation Marks “
Interrupted
Advised The reporter _______, “What happened Joked
Agreed at your farm last night?” Lied
Announced Mentioned
Answered Mr. Johnson _______, “A UFO came Mumbled
Argued down from the sky and landed in my corn field.” Noted
Begged Questioned
Cautioned “What was your first reaction?” _______ Remarked
Commented the reporter. Replied
Complained Responded
Confessed “I thought it was awfully strange,” Screamed
Continued _______ Mr. Johnson. “Maybe some big-shot Shouted
Cried Hollywood producers are filming a movie here.” Sobbed
Demanded Teased
Exclaimed Warned
Explained
Which words could you use to replace Whined
Inquired said and asked? Whispered
Insisted Yelled

9. Titles
Capitalization
Titles have special rules about capitalization.
• The first and last words of the title should always be
capitalized.
War and Peace Pride and Prejudice The Awakening

10. Titles
Capitalization
• Articles, Prepositions, and Coordinating Conjunctions
(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) should NOT be capitalized.
The Flowers of Europe The Ugly Duckling
I and My Village Only Slightly Corrupt
The Merchant of Venice How to Play Tennis
Death of a Salesman

11. Titles
Underlined or Italicized
(either one is correct)
• Books: Moby Dick, The Outsiders
• Plays and Movies: Romeo and Juliet, Cats
• Operas and Ballets: Aida, The Nutcracker
• Newspapers: Wall Street Journal, New York Times
• Magazines: Time, Vogue
• TV Programs: Saturday Night Live, Lost
• Albums: Thriller, My World
• Paintings and Sculptures: The Last Supper, The Pietà

12. Titles
“Quotation Marks”
• Articles: “Rise in Aid to Education Is Proposed”
• Essays: “The Fiction of Langston Hughes”
• Short stories: “The Lottery”
• Poems: “The Raven”
• Songs: “Call Me Maybe”