Punctuating Dialogue

Fifth Grade Writing

Your students will surely exclaim, "This is fun!" in response to this writing lesson. It covers topics that range
from dialogue punctuation to sentence types, and will definitely help improve reading comprehension skills.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to properly punctuate dialogue with commas, quotation marks, and end marks.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Say What? worksheet dialogue

Quotation Marks worksheet quotation marks
Document camera declarative
interrogative
exclamatory
imperative
speech tags

Attachments

Say What? (PDF)

Quotation Marks (PDF)

Introduction (10 minutes)

Ask students to share what they know about dialogue.

Explain that writers use dialogue to show conversations in their writing.
Remind students that quotation marks, which are used to contain dialogue ("like this") always come in
pairs.
Go over the 4 types of sentences: declarative (makes a statement), interrogative sentence (asks a
question), exclamatory (shows strong emotion), and imperative (gives a command).
Tell students these four types are punctuated differently.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (15 minutes)

Hand out copies of the Say What? worksheet.

Give students about 10 minutes to complete it.
Display the answer sheet using the document camera.
At this point, introduce students to speech tags, or phrases like "he said," "Mom asked," and "Sally
cried," which are placed before or after dialogue.
Show that all speech tags are separated by commas or end marks. Because they're not part of the
quotations, they must be separated from them.

Guided Practice (10 minutes)

Have students go through their worksheets and underline all the speech tags.
Have the students circle all end marks or commas that separate the speech tag from the rest of the
sentence.
Go over the answers on the document camera.
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Independent working time (15 minutes)

Hand out copies of the Quotation Marks worksheet.

Tell students to use their marked up Say What? worksheets to help them complete the new worksheets.
Give students time to work independently, and check in with struggling students.

Differentiation

Enrichment: Advanced students can be asked to write five sentences with dialogue instead of (or after
completing) the Quotation Marks worksheet. Challenge students who need a greater challenge to insert
the speech tag in the middle of one of their sentences.
Support: Pull struggling students aside and complete the first three questions of the Quotation Marks
worksheet together with them. This will help them become more familiar with the process of punctuating.

Assessment (10 minutes)

Circulate the room and informally assess students as they work.

If there's enough time available, go over the answers to the worksheet on the document camera once
students are done working.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Review the definitions of the key terms.

Remind students to keep their writing properly punctuated.

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 Say What?
Write in the missing quotation marks to fix the
punctuation in each sentence.

Lily said, Let’s go to the park after school.

Do you want ice cream? asked Peter.

I love my new kitten! said Tina. He is so playful.

I have a lot of homework today, said Samantha.

I stayed up late, said Charles, to finish reading my book.

Oh no! The cake is burning! yelled Jill’s mom.

Is the school play tomorrow? asked Ellie.

Matt said, The roller coaster was a lot of fun.

Abe asked, What’s your brother’s name?

You should wear a hat. It’s cold today, said Andrew’s dad.

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at education.com/resources
Copyright 2008-2009 Education.com www.education.com/worksheets
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 Say What?
Write in the missing quotation marks to fix the
punctuation in each sentence.

Lily said,“ Let’s go to the park after school.”

“ Do you want ice cream?”asked Peter.

“ I love my new kitten! ”said Tina.“He is so playful.”

“ I have a lot of homework today,”said Samantha.

“ I stayed up late,” said Charles,“to finish reading my book.”

“ Oh no! The cake is burning! ”yelled Jill’s mom.

“ Is the school play tomorrow?”asked Ellie.

Matt said,“ The roller coaster was a lot of fun.”

Abe asked,“What’s your brother’s name? ”

“ You should wear a hat. It’s cold today,” said Andrew’s dad.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Find worksheets, games, lessons & moreCreated by :
at education.com/resources
Copyright 2008-2009 Education.com www.education.com/worksheets
© 2007 - 2021 Education.com
 Quotation Marks
Use the following rules when using quotation marks. Use these rules to properly place quotation marks
in the sentences below.
RULES
1. Use quotation marks when you are quoting what someone else said or wrote. Use a comma before the
quotation mark. At the end of the quoted sentence, keep the punctuation mark inside the end quotation mark.
The first letter of the quoted text must be capitalized. If the quote ends with punctuation that's not a comma,
there doesn't need to be a comma after it.
Ex: My mom asked, “Would you like to go see the big game this weekend?”
2. Use quotation marks for titles such as poems, songs, and news articles.
Ex: We are going to read "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman.

3. Use a single quotation mark for quotes within quotes.

Ex: "The flight attendant on the intercom just said, 'Fasten your seatbelts and stay seated'.
Maybe we can stand and stretch our legs later.", my sister said.

Place quotation marks and proper punctuation where needed in the sentences below.

1. The coach said Don’t be nervous, just try your best.

2. Can we get hot dogs and cotton candy? Barbara asked.

3. I wish I could play baseball professionally he thought out loud.

4. Be able to recite Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou next week the teacher said.

5. Robbie specifically said Don’t leave for the game without me when he last spoke to me said Kyle.

6. What time would you like me to pick you up? my sister asked and where?

7. Please lower your voices to a whisper the librarian asked us.

8. I would like to request Forever Love because it’s my wife’s birthday the caller told the DJ.

9. Strike! the umpire exclaimed.

10. My dad said Don’t forget to wear your baseball cap before we left the house.

11. Wait! she screamed. You dropped your wallet!

12. I would like to thank my family for all their support the Miss Pageant winner sobbed with joy.

13. Which subway line goes to Central Park? the tourist inquired.

14. Turn off your cellphones inside the theater the usher advised.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Copyright 2012-2013 by Education.com
Find worksheets, games,More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets
lessons & more at education.com/resources
© 2007 - 2021 Education.com
 Quotation Marks
Use the following rules when using quotation marks. Use these rules to properly place quotation marks
in the sentences below.
RULES
1. Use quotation marks when you are quoting what someone else said or wrote. Use a comma before the
quotation mark. At the end of the quoted sentence, keep the punctuation mark inside the end quotation mark.
The first letter of the quoted text must be capitalized. If the quote ends with punctuation that's not a comma,
there doesn't need to be a comma after it.
Ex: My mom asked, “Would you like to go see the big game this weekend?”
2. Use quotation marks for titles such as poems, songs, and news articles.
Ex: We are going to read "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman.

3. Use a single quotation mark for quotes within quotes.

Ex: "The flight attendant on the intercom just said, 'Fasten your seatbelts and stay seated'.
Maybe we can stand and stretch our legs later.", my sister said.

Place quotation marks and proper punctuation where needed in the sentences below.

1. The coach said, “Don’t be nervous, just try your best.”

2. “Can we get hot dogs and cotton candy?” Barbara asked.

3. “I wish I could play baseball professionally,” he thought out loud.

4. “Be able to recite ‘Phenomenal Woman’ by Maya Angelou next week,” the teacher said.

5. “Robbie specifically said ‘Don’t leave for the game without me’ when he last spoke to me,” said Kyle.

6. “What time would you like me to pick you up?” my sister asked, “and where?”

7. “Please lower your voices to a whisper,” the librarian asked us.

8. “I would like to request ‘Forever Love’ because it’s my wife’s birthday,” the caller told the DJ.

9. “Strike!” the umpire exclaimed

10. My dad said, “Don’t forget to wear your baseball cap,” before we left the house.

11. “Wait!” she screamed. “You dropped your wallet!”

12. “I would like to thank my family for all their support,” the Miss Pageant winner sobbed with joy.

13. “Which subway line goes to Central Park?” the tourist inquired.

14. “Turn off your cellphones inside the theater,” the usher advised.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Copyright 2012-2013 by Education.com
Find worksheets, games,More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets
lessons & more at education.com/resources
© 2007 - 2021 Education.com