Punctuating Speech - Worksheet

The "Punctuating Speech" worksheet is an educational resource that assists students in learning the correct use of speech marks and punctuation when writing dialogue. The worksheet presents a series of sentences that are to be rewritten by the students, with the addition of speech marks and appropriate punctuation to clearly indicate spoken words. For example, students are tasked with transforming the sentence "She said the wait is almost over" into a correctly punctuated sentence with speech marks, such as "She said, 'The wait is almost over.'" The activity challenges students to apply their knowledge of direct speech rules, including the use of capital letters, commas, question marks, exclamation points, and full stops.

In addition to the speech marks activity, the worksheet provides a passage that requires students to rewrite it into correctly punctuated paragraphs. This exercise focuses on the rule that a new speaker should be presented in a new paragraph and includes the proper insertion of all necessary punctuation. Students are given an unpunctuated passage of dialogue between characters Fergus and Dan, which they must edit to reflect accurate speech punctuation. This includes the use of speech marks, capitalisation, and paragraph breaks to enhance readability and comprehension. The exercise is designed to reinforce the students' understanding of punctuating dialogue and to develop their writing skills.