Direct speech for 11 plus English

Direct speech is the exact words someone says. Inverted commas go round those words only. The speech starts with a capital. Its own punctuation goes inside the inverted commas. If the speech comes first, it ends with a comma, a question mark or an exclamation mark, before said Jamal. A new speaker starts a new line. Words, mark, then close.

What did Jamal say? We need more wood. Inverted commas round it, and a capital W. The speech comes first, so a comma, inside. Then said Jamal, a capital J, and a full stop to end the whole sentence.

The trap is the comma left outside, or a full stop before said. A full stop says the sentence is over, and it is not: said Jamal still belongs to it. The mark goes inside, and the full stop waits for the end.

• 4.1Sentence endings and capitalsOne idea, one sentence
• 4.2CommasLists and openers, never between subject and verb
• 4.3ApostrophesName the owner, then count
• 4.5Brackets, dashes and extra informationOpen it, close it, check it
• 4.6Colons and semicolonsSentence first, then the mark

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