Punctuating Direct Speech How to Train Your Dragon What do you remember about writing speech? “Go!” yelled Hiccup. “Why go?” shuddered Toothless. “Just go!” screamed Hiccup, flapping his arm up and down frantically with Toothless hanging on for dear life. “Toothless,” said Hiccup as reasonably as he could, “please go. If you don’t we are both going to be thrown in exile.” “But I don’t want to go,” Toothless pointed out, equally reasonably. Toothless doesn’t do grammar!

Punctuating Direct Speech – The rules We report who is speaking using a reporting clause. Punctuating Direct Speech – The rules Hug the words spoken with speech marks “Toothless,” said Hiccup sweetly. “Not listening,” grunted Toothless. Toothless… Not listening. Speech bubbles can show us what a character is saying. The words said are called direct speech.

Punctuating Direct Speech – The rules “I will give you two lobsters for every fish you catch,” promised Hiccup. Toothless opened one eye, “Alive?” “It is cruel to torture living creatures,” he replied firmly. “You are boring,” Toothless answered sulkily. Start a new line for every change of speaker I will give you two lobsters for every fish you catch. Alive? It is cruel to torture living creatures. This makes it easier to see who is speaking. You are boring.

Punctuating Direct Speech – The rules Start the speakers’ words with a capital letter,… except if speaker is continuing their direct speech sentence Hiccup smiled, “You are such a quick and clever dragon, I bet you can catch loads of fish.” “I can,” agreed Toothless, “but I don’t want to.” I can but I don’t want to.

Punctuating Direct Speech – The rules Separate the speech and reporting clause with a comma… Unless the speech ends in a ! Or a ? The punctuation goes at the end of a clause, before the speech marks “Do you remember what Fireworm said?” asked Hiccup. Toothless spat, “She called me a newt with wings. “It would teach her a lesson if you won,” said Hiccup. “I will think about it,” sniffed Toothless.

What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? “What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?” asked Hiccup. Toothless demanded, “Tell me now.” “You have to guess,” Hiccup explained. Tell me now. You have to guess. Hug the words spoken with speech marks Start the speakers’ words with a capital letter Separate the speech and reporting clause with a comma Start a new line to show the speaker has changed EXAMPLE

Toothless promised, “I will catch two fish if you tell me.” What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter? I will catch two fish if you tell me. The answer is an envelope. “What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter?” asked Hiccup. Toothless promised, “I will catch two fish if you tell me.” “The answer is an envelope,” Hiccup replied. Hug the words spoken with speech marks Start the speakers’ words with a capital letter Separate the speech and reporting clause with a comma Start a new line to show the speaker has changed EXAMPLE