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Tenacious Learner Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Question on punctuation rules for quoted speech

Hi teachers,
Do punctuation rules say that I can only use a comma when quoted speech comes before the reporting verb 'said', like in the following sentence:
"We are leaving," he said.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

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5 Answers
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No, especially in AmE it is very common to use a comma:

He said, "We are leaving."

The longer the quotation is, the more likely you'll see a colon in BrE, and a colon wouldn't be wrong even in the above sentence:

He said: "We are leaving."

CB
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Hi,
Thank you for your reply and additional information. But I'm asking it just when we have a statement and the verb 'said' is after the the quoted speech
"We are leaving," he said.

TS
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Sorry, TS. I didn't understand you correctly. Of course you can use, actually you even need to use other punctuation such as a question mark if the quote is a question:

"What time is it?" he asked.

CB
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Cool BreezeSorry, TS. I didn't understand you correctly. Probably I didn'd explain myself correctly. Of course you can use, actually you even need to use other punctuation such as a question mark if the quote is a question:"What time is it?" he asked.CB
Hi,
Thank you.
And an exclamation mark is somebody shouted somet
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Thinking SpainAnd an exclamation mark is somebody shouted something. Right?'Stop talking!' he shouted.
Right you are.

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