1. Finding Rules

Read these sentences:

1. "Now, my dear," said her mother, "don't stop by the way."

2. "Pick that up," said Harry's father. "You know it brings good luck to pick up a horseshoe."

3. "I wish," said the mayor, "that I had a trap strong enough to catch all the rats."

Read the words in each sentence which some one has spoken. What are those words called? Find in each sentence the words which are not quoted. Where do they occur in the sentence?

What may quotations like these be called? Where must quotation marks be used in quotations which are divided?

Notice the marks which are placed before and after the parts of the sentences which are not quoted. Try to give a reason for the use of each. Give reasons for all the capital letters that are used.

Study each sentence carefully. Close your book and write it. Then compare your sentences with those in the book, to see if you have the quotation marks and other marks in the correct places.

Write a sentence in which the first words are a quotation.

Write a sentence in which the last words are a quotation.

Have you separated each quotation from the rest of the sentence?

2. Rules

1. Each part of a divided quotation should be enclosed in quotation marks.

2. Quotations are usually separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or question marks.

3. A quotation, or a part of a quotation which is a whole sentence, should begin with a capital letter.

3. Exercises

1. Copy these sentences, using correct marks of punctuation:

I think said the rooster that we must drive the robbers away How can it be done

The frost said Now I shall be out of sight

You must be hungry after your long walk said the City Mouse We will have dinner at once

Which do you prefer asked the stranger the golden touch or a cup of water

2. Find a conversation in your reader. Copy it carefully.

3. Imagine that an elephant and a squirrel met in a forest. Write the conversation that might take place.