IXL | Formatting quotations and dialogue

Correct any errors in capitalization or punctuation. Your answer should be a single sentence.

Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote "you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face".

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question

Correct any errors in capitalization or punctuation. Your answer should be a single sentence.

"Is there anything in life so disenchanting as attainment"? Mused author Robert Louis Stevenson.

key idea

Use quotation marks around a direct quotation from a speaker or a written source.

Sometimes a quotation is a complete sentence with a speaker tag, such as "Evan said" or "exclaimed the woman."

The quotation can come after the speaker tag.

The speaker declared, "We can succeed by working together."

He demanded, "Who's there?"

Use a comma to separate the speaker tag from the quotation, and capitalize the quotation.

The quotation can come before the speaker tag.

"We can succeed by working together," the speaker declared.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

Unless the quotation ends with a question mark or exclamation point, separate it from the speaker tag with a comma. Do not capitalize the speaker tag.

The quotation can be interrupted by the speaker tag.

"We can succeed," the speaker declared, "by working together."

Use commas to separate the speaker tag from the quotation. Do not capitalize the second part of the quotation.

Sometimes a quotation is a fragment incorporated into a sentence without a speaker tag.

The speaker declared that the key to success is "working together."

The speaker declared that "working together" is the key to success.

"Working together" is the key to success, according to the speaker.

Do not use a comma to separate the quotation from the rest of the sentence. Do not capitalize the quotation unless it starts the sentence.

Commas and periods always go inside closing quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation points should go inside only when they are part of the quotation.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

He demanded, "Who's there?"

Here the question mark is part of the quotation, so place it inside the closing quotation mark. No additional comma or period is needed.

He paused and listened; had he really heard someone reply, "There's no one here"?

Here the question mark is not part of the quotation, so place it outside the closing quotation mark. No additional period is needed.

solution

Correct the sentence.

"Is there anything in life so disenchanting as attainment?" mused author Robert Louis Stevenson.

The question mark should go inside the closing quotation mark because it is part of the quotation.

Do not capitalize the speaker tag.

$Confetti$

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Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

XX.4Formatting quotations and dialogue

FF.5Is it a complete sentence or a fragment?

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