Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham and I'm really glad you've chosen to join me today for a lesson on speech punctuation.

I'm hoping you're going to find it really useful and I'm really looking forward to helping you all the way through today's lesson.

Let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called Speech Three Ways for my unit called Punctuation.

By the end of today's lesson we'll be able to accurately punctuate a speech first, a speech second, or a speech interrupted sentence.

Now we know that direct speech is a brilliant tool in our writer's toolkit, whether we're writing a newspaper article and we want to quote an eyewitness or we are using speech in a story to give an insight into our characters' ideas and emotions.

But we do have very strict rules in English about how we punctuate direct speech and we're gonna try and master those together today.

So let's get to work.

Here's our key vocabulary for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Direct speech, speech sentence, inverted commas and reporting clause, well done.

So as I'm sure you know, direct speech used to show that a character is speaking out loud in a text and a speech sentence is just a sentence that includes direct speech.

Inverted commas are a pair of punctuation marks that signal direct speech to the reader.

You might have heard them called speech marks and a reporting clause is a clause that tells the reader who said the speech sentence and how.

So let's look at our lesson outline.

We're going to start off by looking at speech first and speech second sentences, and then we'll move on to looking at speech interrupted sentences.

So we use direct speech to show that a character is speaking out loud and inverted commas or speech marks go around the direct speech.

So if you look at this sentence, it should be punctuated with inverted commas.

It says, "I suggest you stop now advise Mr. Martinez." Well, I can see that this is the direct speech.

These are the words that Mr. Martinez actually said.

So I put those inside the inverted commas.

"I suggest you stop now," advised Mr. Martinez.

And this part is the reporting clause.

This tells us who said the direct speech and how.

So we've used that word advise to show how Mr. Martinez said it and we've said who said it, which was Mr. Martinez.

So if the direct speech comes before the reporting clause, like this example, we call this a speech first sentence 'cause the direct speech has come first and the reporting clause has come second.

So the direct speech here always has a capital letter and the reporting clause only has a capital letter if it starts with a proper noun or with I.

So we can see we've got a capital letter here at the start of our direct speech and we would whatever word started that.

But we don't have a capital letter here and we wouldn't have, unless we had a proper noun there or I.

So if we did this the other way round and said, Mr. Martinez advised, then of course we'd have a capital M for Mr. Martinez.

But 'cause we put an advised first, no capital letter here.

So let's look at the sentence below and I wonder if you can decide which words are direct speech and which words are the reporting clause.

Here's the sentence, pause the video and have a think.

Well done, let's take a look.

So this part is the direct speech.

This is what Andeep actually said.

Let's practise the pronunciation so that we get it right.

So we can put that inside inverted comments as we see here.

And that means that the other part must be the reporting clause.

"Andeep suggested helpfully." And look, we've got a capital letter there for Andeep because Andeep is a proper noun.

So he would always start with a capital letter even though it's the start of the reporting clause.

So let's look at the structure.

I'm gonna show a simplified version of the structure to start with and we'll add to it as we go through the lesson.

So we started with our inverted commas in front of lets, then we had the capital letter for L for lets.

Then we have the speech, "Let's practise the pronunciation so that we get it right." Then we've closed our inverted and then we have the reporting clause.

And you might have noticed there's a full stop at the end of the reporting clause because it's the end of a sentence.

So it must have a full stop there.

Now I bet you spotted that I missed one thing from my diagram there because there's always some closing punctuation at the end of the direct speech before those second inverted comments.

Let me show you, here are three examples.

"This is awkward!" Jun chuckled quietly.

And look, I've got that exclamation mark highlighted.

"Let's join the queue," he suggested.

With a comma highlighted.

"Is he still conscious?" Alex asked anxiously.

With a question mark highlighted.

So we can use an exclamation mark before those second inverted commas.

If we're shown a strong emotional shock, we'd use a comma whenever we normally use a full stop in that sentence and we use a question mark obviously for questions.

But we now we can look at the structure in more detail.

If we look at this one with Alex, we've started with our inverted commas.

Then we've got our capital letter for is, then we've got the speech that he said, "Is he still conscious?" Then we have to have some closing punctuation and in this case it's a question mark, but it could be an exclamation mark or a comma in our other sentences.

Then we close our inverted commas as we can see.

Then we have our reporting clause, "Alex passed anxiously." And then we have our full stop at the end there.

So that's the complete structure we might see in a speech, first sentence.

Why are these speech first? Because the direct speech comes before the reporting clause.

So what punctuation needs to be added to this sentence to follow those rules for a speech first sentence? Pause the video and see if you can think of everything that needs to be added into this sentence.

All the way from the beginning to the end.

Have a careful look and have a go.

Well done, there was loads there to get, wasn't there? Well done for getting it.

So we have to start with our inverted commas at the start.

Then we have our capital letter and then we have the direct speech.

And the direct speech here is, "Stop being so mischievous." Then we've got our exclamation mark to close that direct speech and then the inverted commas finish afterwards.

Then we've got the reporting clause "snapped Miss O'Neill Crossly." But we have to finish with that full stop as well at the end.

So first of all, we have to work out what's direct speech and what's the reporting clause and then we have to punctuate both parts correctly.

Fantastic job for getting all those little bits correct.

Really good job.

So you've seen the reporting clause, just tell us who's speaking and how.

For instance, "I've injured my shoulder," winced Aisha quietly with a grimace.

We've got a lot in that reporting clause though, haven't we? In purple.

We can use synonyms for said, adverbs and actions to show the emotion with which something was said using that reporting clause.

So we can see, winced, that's a synonym for said, another word for said.

We've got quietly showing us how she's speaking as an adverb and we've got with a grimace to show an action Aisha's doing as she speaks.

So that tells us a lot more about how Aisha feels about this injury to her shoulder.

So let's look at some more examples of these different things we can put in our reporting clause to show those emotions.

We can use synonyms for said words like stuttered, quavered and quiet or pondered.

We could use adverbs like curiously, delightedly, controversially and graciously.

Controversially means you know you're saying something people might disagree with and then actions things like with a sneer, with a look of grave concern.

That means a lot of worry with, without a moment's consideration, without thinking and without glancing up.

So we've got synonyms, adverbs, and actions we can add to this reporting clause to really give some detail about how the person is feeling as they speak.

So I wonder if you can match the reporting clauses to the most appropriate direct speech for the emotions that are being shown in that speech.

Pause the video and see if you can match these.

Well done, great job.

So A, I think we would say, "Did you clean your room thoroughly? Dad inquired sternly with no hint of a smile." So look, we've got inquired a synonym for said, sternly our adverb.

And then "with no hint of a smile" is an action.

For B, I've got, "I can't guarantee I won't be late.

Laura confessed sheepishly without meeting my gaze." Confessed as our synonym for said, sheepishly our adverb.

And without meeting my gaze is our action that she's doing as she says this.

And C, "Stop talking and concentrate! Snapped Miss O'Neill frustratedly with a grim expression." So we've got snapped as our synonym, frustratedly as our adverb, and with a grim expression as a great action to show Miss O'Neil's feeling as she says that dare speech.

Great job matching those up, well done.

So we've seen that we can add adverbs and synonyms and actions to our reporting clause, but we can also add an add verbal clause or a non finite -ing clause to the reporting clause and I'll show you what both of those would look like now.

Here are some with adverbial clause, "Stop being so mischievous!" Snapped Miss O'Neil Crossly as she glared at the class.

As she glared at the class as an adverbial clause because it's type of subordinate clause that starts with a subordinated conjunction, which is as in this case that tells us more about what Miss O'Neil is doing as she says these words, I could say, "Is she your neighbour?" Izzy he asked inquisitively after the woman had walked away.

So this is telling us more about when Izzy has spoken.

We've used after the woman had walked away as an adverbial clause inside our reporting clause with after as the subordinating conjunction that starts in adverbial clause.

So in each of these cases, the adverbial clause is telling us more about when something has happened or what's happening at the same time as we're doing this speech.

So let's look at some with a non-finite -ing clause now.

Non-finite clauses start with an ing verb like watching in this case.

So I've said, "This is awkward!" Jun chuckled quietly, watching the situation unfold.

I can tell that's a subordinate clause because it doesn't make complete sense in its own.

I know it's a non-finite -ing clause because it starts with a -ing verb watching.

Here's another one, "I suggest you stop now," Mr. Martinez has advised raising his eyebrows.

We've got raising starting that non-finite -ing clause there.

So the non-finite -ing clause tells us more about what the character is doing as they speak.

So it has to be something they could do at the same time as they're speaking.

So Jun is speaking as he watches the situation unfold and Mr. Martinez is advising us as he's raising his eyebrow.

So using those non-finite -ing clauses is a great way of boosting our reporting clauses by saying what's the person doing as they speak.

So can you choose an appropriate adverbial or non-finite -ing clause to complete each of these reporting clauses? Pause the video and see if you can match them up correctly.

Well done, great job.

So for A, I would say, "Chuckled Jun happily as he grinned from ear to ear." That would be an adverbial clause starting with as, as our subordinating injunction.

For B, we would say, "Mr. Martinez as calmly looking and me expectantly." That's a non-finite -ing clause without ing verb at the start.

And for C, "I've got Izzy wondered in confusion furrowing her brow." That's shown confusion as well, isn't it? So look how the reporting clause is being boosted by having the actions and the synonyms and the adverbs matching with these adverbial non-finite -ing clause to bring together this idea of how this person feels as they would speak.

Great job.

So another way of showing direct speech is to use a speech second sentence.

And this is where the reporting clause comes first.

For example, Izzy sighed, "What a nuisance!" Sofia asked, "Isn't this marvellous?" Mr. Martinez has demanded, "Give me an explanation!" Notice how here, the reporting clause in purple is coming first and the direct speech is coming second.

So we call this a speech second sentence.

So the reporting clause now always has a capital letter because it's the start of the sentence and it's followed by a comma.

Izzy sighed, Sophia asked, but the direct speech still has a capital letter as well.

So we've got a capital letter to start our reporting clause, then we have the reporting clause, then we have a comma at the end of the reporting clause, then we open our inverted commas to the direct speech, then we have a capital letter to start a direct speech.

We see the speech, "Give me an explanation!" And then we finish with our closing inverted commas.

And now you've noticed again I've missed one element, we'll come back to that in a second.

And here of course are the inverted commas that finish off that direct speech.

So where should a capital letter and inverted commas be placed to make this a speech second sentence? Pause the video and see if you can add them in.

Well done.

Hopefully you would recognise that, these are the words that she said out loud.

Check your work thoroughly.

So they need to have the inverted commas around them.

But notice how we've had to put a comma at the end of that reporting clause.

Miss O'Neil advised, "Check your work thoroughly!" We've got inverted commas around the direct speech there.

So again, we have our capital letter at the start of the reporting clause, the reporting clause and the comma.

Then we've got inverted, another capital to start the direct speech, then the speech and then our closing inverted commas.

Now I'm sure you've noticed that in a speech second sentence, the end of the direct speech is actually the end of the whole sentence.

So if you look at these three examples, I'm sure you'll see them.

Dad said, "Come and watch the lightning." Andeep asked, "Can you persuade him?" Alex sighed, "Sorry, I'm not available." So where the direct speech ends is the end of the sentence.

So this means a can't end with a comma, we can't put a comma at the end of a sentence.

So we can use a full stop now instead.

So the direct speech in their speech second sentence will end with either an exclamation mark, a question mark, or a full stop.

And you can see those here.

So if we look at the last example, we've got in our reporting clause, the capital letter, the reporting clause, and the comma.

Then we have our reverted commas, our capital letter and our speech.

And now we've got some closing punctuation in this case, a full stop.

And then our closing inverted commas.

So can you find the mistakes in each speech second sentence and correct them here.

Pause the video and see if you can spot them all.

Well done, great job.

So in A, hopefully you spotted something is missing here, it's gonna be a comma because we've got the reporting clause always followed by a comma in a speech second sentence.

Hopefully you spotted two mistakes in B, one here and one here.

We should have a capital letter to start the direct speech and we always need some closing punctuation at the end.

And in this case a full stop is most appropriate.

In C, there's two mistakes as well.

Something's missing here and this is wrong.

We should always have a comma after the reporting clause and that full stop should be inside the inverted commas.

Before we close the inverted commas, we need that closing punctuation, which is either a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.

Great job for spotting those five errors.

Fantastic work.

So let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some sentences with missing speech punctuation.

I'd like you to rewrite each sentence, adding in the inverted commas, capital letters and any other punctuation that's needed.

Now some of these are speech first and some are speech second.

So you're going to have a look carefully about at which words are going to need to be direct speech and which are the reporting clause.

So here are the five sentences, pause the video and see if you can add all the speech punctuation that we need.

Have a go.

Well done, great effort.

Let's take a look at how these should look.

For A, we should have this as the direct speech.

"Why are you causing a nuisance?" Mr. Martinez scowled angrily as you looked up.

So I've used a question mark there and I finished with a full stop 'cause it's a speech first.

B, it's a speech second sentence.

Look, I've got that comma after happily.

And I've used an exclamation mark at be of direct speech this time.

C is speech first.

"What a marvellous answer!" grinned Miss O'Neill happily, beaming from ear to ear.

Notice that comma before beaming, before that non-finite -ing clause there.

And I've used an exclamation mark to show this is a strong emotion, Miss O'Neil is really pleased with this.

D is speech second.

So notice that comma after coldly.

And I've used the full stop at the end of the direct speech here because this isn't a strong emotion and it's not a question.

So the full stop is most appropriate.

And the last one is speech first.

And I've used a comma at the end of the direct speech here because it's not necessarily a strong emotion, but if you think that Jacob is really, really angry here, you could use an exclamation mark there as well.

Really good job for getting that punctuation correct.

There's an awful lot to remember.

So you've done a fantastic job if you've got it all well done.

So we've talked about speech first and speech second sentences.

We are now going to talk about speech interrupted sentences.

I'll show you what I mean right now.

So we can also place the reporting clause in between two pieces of direct speech.

So for instance, "Before long," he said, "we'll have to make some sacrifices." "Now," Mr. Martinez has asked, "can you please stand up silently?" "If you have a stitch," bellowed Miss O'Neill, "take a 30 second break!" Can you see how I've put the reporting clause in green there? So when the reporting clause interrupt the direct speech, we call this a speech interrupted sentence and the direct speech could be one sentence, but it's been interrupted by the reporting clause.

So this could be one sentence, couldn't it? "Before long, we will have to make some sacrifices." So could this, "Now, can you please stand up silently?" And so could this, "If you have a stitch, take a 30 second break." So in each case we've interrupted a complete sentence of direct speech with a reporting clause.

So this start of a speech interrupted sentence has some special punctuation rules.

Let's break them down.

So let's look at this one.

"This time," sighed Jun in frustration, "let's work together." So we've got that complete sentence of direct speech.

This time let's work together, interrupted by the reporting clause, sighed Jun in frustration.

Let's check the punctuation rules.

We start off with our inverted commas as we normally do.

And then we have a capital letter as we normally do to start the direct speech.

Then we have the actual speech, the first part of it.

But then we've got a special rule.

The first piece of direct speech always ends with the comma in a speech interrupted sentence.

And we can see that here.

And then we close the inverted commas for the first time.

Then we have the reporting clause and that reporting clause like in a speech second sentence always ends with a comma because the direct speech is going to continue after the reporting clause.

So we need this comma here to show this is not the end of the direct speech.

It's about to continue.

And then the reporting clause can also include synonyms for said adverbs and actions just like we did before.

So can you see I've got sighed as my synonym for sighed and frustration as an adverb there.

So which of these speech interrupted sentences is punctuated correctly based on those rules we've learned so far? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Hopefully you spotted a mistake in A, which is here.

Now, this is the end of the first part of the direct speech, but not the total end of the direct speech.

So we need a comma there and it's not there.

So that one doesn't work.

For B, we've got a mistake here.

This is the end of the reporting clause and we need to show that this isn't the end of the sentence.

The direct speech is going to continue.

So there should be a comma there as well.

So that's not right.

Now in C, we've got both those things right.

We've got a comma at the end of the first part of direct speech and a comma at the end of the reporting clause to indicate we are still going, we're about to continue with this direct speech.

So we need both those commas for it to be correct.

Well done if you spotted that.

Now let's look at the end of the direct speech, the second part of direct speech in our speech interrupted sentence.

So the end also has some special rules.

So we've got, "let's work together." So we had our comma at the end of the reporting clause.

Now we have another pair of inverted commas.

Now notice how this time, this second piece of direct speech has no capital letter in unless it's a name or I.

Now let's isn't a name or I, so no capital letter here.

Then we have the actual speech, the rest of our speech sentence.

And then it ends the sentence, doesn't it? So just like with our speech second sentence, we can't use a comma.

We either have a full stop, an exclamation mark or a question mark just like with our speech second sentence.

And then of course we have to finish our second set of inverted commas here.

So we can now see the whole structure of a speech interrupted sentence, and I'll try and go through it as quickly as I can because there's a lot of details here.

So we start our first piece of direct speech with our inverted comm and a capital letter.

We say that first piece of direct speech and we finish it with a comma to show it's going to continue.

And then we close the inverted commas.

Then we have our reports in clause followed by a comma.

We reopen our speech marks.

We don't always have a caps letter only of its name or I.

Then we have the second part of speech.

We have some closing punctuation, either an exclamation mark, a question mark, or a full stop.

And then we close our inverted commas for the final time.

So here's another example.

"Tomorrow," asked, Izzy, "can you come over for tea?" You can see it follows the exact same structure apart from this time, the closing punctuation is a question mark because it's a question.

But every time we're going to see this two pairs of inverted commas, one pair and another pair and two commas, one at the end of the first piece of direct speech and one at the end of the reporting clause.

So that's what you really need to watch out for to make sure you're getting your speech interrupted sentences punctuated correctly.

So let's practise.

Can you add all the punctuation to this speech interrupted sentence that is needed? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, fantastic effort.

There's lots to remember, isn't there? So great job.

So we should have it looking something like this.

We've got our inverted commas and our capital letter.

We've got our comma and our closing of our first pair of inverted commas.

Then we've got our reporting clause ending with the comma.

We reopen our inverted commas and no capital letter for we're.

We have our speech closing this time with an exclamation mark I think, and then an inverted commas to finish.

So we need to make sure we've got those two commas, one at the end of the direct speech and one at the end of the reporting clause.

And then some closing punctuation for the second little bit of direct speech.

And I think here the most appropriate was an exclamation mark.

Amazing job if you've managed to get all those little details correct, you've done so well.

Now it's really important to think carefully about where we should interrupt the direct speech, but we are lucky because we can use commas to help us do this.

So let's imagine Aisha wants to say this.

Once this is all over, I'm going to have a long sleep.

You can see there's a comma here, and this comma is showing us the end of a fronted adverbial clause.

"Once this is all over," starting with that subordinated conjunction, once, so that comma gives us a hint that this would be a great place to interrupt Aisha's direct speech with our reporting clause.

So I could write something like this, "Once this is all over," yawned Aisha with a long sigh, "I'm going to have a long sleep." So that worked perfectly because we interrupted at that comma.

Here's another example.

Sophia says, "Soon it will be time to go to the restaurant." Now we've got a comma here, not for fronted adverbial clause, but fronted adverbial word in this case, just the word soon.

But we can use that comma as our point of interruption where we're going to put the reporting clause.

So I could say something like this, "Soon," said Sofia excitedly, "it will be time to go to the restaurant!" So those commas are great clues that this is a good place for interrupting.

Now we can also interrupt the direct speech after a comma in a compound sentence or a relative complex sentence.

Let me show you, here's Lucas saying what could be a compound sentence.

"The last one was bad, but this one is excellent." See there's that comma as our clue.

The comma is showing us where that first main clause ends.

So I can interrupt here.

"The last one was bad," Lucas grinned, "but this one is excellent!" Andeep says, "Mum says, I can't come, which is a nuisance." Here, the comma is showing us where the relative clause, which is a nuisance, is about to begin.

So that's a great place to interrupt.

I could say, "Mum says I can't come, Andeep sighed with a shake of his head, which is a nuisance." So these commas are so useful to us in helping us to know where would be a good place to interrupt the direct speech with our reporting clause.

Let's practise that.

Which version of this has the interruption in an appropriate place for this idea? My idea is someone is saying, Miss O'Neill is saying, "Now let's open our books at page 120." So what would be a good place for that interruption? And which version does the interruption correctly? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Hopefully you spotted the comma is here after now, a fronted adverbial word and the the version which interrupts the sentence at that comma is B.

It says, "Now," said Miss O'Neill expectantly, "let's open our books at page 120." So that one works the best because we've interrupted the direct speech at the point where there was already a comma in the sentence.

Great job if you spotted that.

Now let's try another one.

Here are two sentences of speech which we want to put into a speech interrupted sentence.

Where would we place the interruption in each of these ideas for a speech sentence? And what might the speech interrupted sentence look like? So there'll look to think about here.

So pause the video and think carefully about each option and how it should look as a speech interrupted sentence.

Have a go.

Well done, fantastic effort.

There's a lot to think about, isn't there? So in A, we've got a comma after that fronted adverbial clause after we finished eating.

So here's a good place to interrupt.

So you might have written something like this, "After we finished eating," Lucas whispered mischievously, "let's meet by the school gate." So I've added in my reporting clause, "Lucas whispered mischievously" after that comma in the original sentence.

We can do the same for B.

We've got a comma here.

It's a good poem in this compound sentence.

So I'm going to do it like this.

"It's a good poem," Laura accepted, nodding her head, "but it doesn't rhyme." So I've added in my reporting clause after that comma, and I've added some ideas to my reporting clause about an action Laura might do as she says this.

Hopefully you got something similar.

There's lots to think about.

So really well done for persevering with this.

So let's do our final task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some speech bubbles of children saying some ideas.

And I want you to write a speech interrupted sentence with each speech bubble.

And I want you to use the commas inside the speech bubble to help you to put the interruption in the right place.

Now to help you at the bottom of the page, I've shown you the structure of the punctuation for your speech interrupted sentence.

But you're going to have to think of what you want to put in that reporting clause.

Who's speaking, how are they speaking, and maybe an action they're doing as they speak.

So here's Laura's speech bubble.

"This is my cousin, who's a firefighter." Alex says, "I've got a bruise, but it doesn't hurt." And Jun says, "Next week, I'm going my uncle's yacht." So using those commas, your own ideas for reporting clauses and the diagram at the bottom to help you with your punctuation.

Let's see if we can write three beautiful speech interrupted sentences.

Pause the video and have a try.

Fantastic effort.

There's so much to think about here.

So you're doing an amazing job to get to get these done.

So here are some examples that I've done.

Now your speech punctuation should look the same as mine, but your reporting clause will of course look different.

And I hope you've come up with some really fun ideas.

So for Laura, I said, "This is my cousin," Laura explained confidently, "who is a firefighter." And I finished with a full stop because this isn't a strong emotion, it's not a question.

A full stop's most appropriate there.

For Alex, I've written, "I've got a bruise," stated Alex proudly, "but it doesn't hurt!" And I've used an exclamation mark there.

But I thing Alex is gonna show off a little bit that his bruise isn't hurting him.

And for my last one with Jun, I've said, "Next week," Jun told the class, beaming from ear to ear, "I'm going on my uncle's yacht." Now again, I don't this as a particularly strong emotion, so I've used a full stop at the end there.

But notice how I've put in some action in my reporting clause beaming from ear to ear to show that Jun feels excited about this trip he's about to take.

So just check for a moment that you've got all the punctuation that you need, particularly your comma at the end of the first piece of direct speech and your comma at the end of the reporting clause, making sure that all these cases, we've got no capital letter at the start, the second piece of direct speech, except for that I in Jun's sentence because I is always a capital letter.

So fantastic job if you've managed to get all of that in your sentences, you've done so well to do that, well done.

Let's summarise all that learning from our lesson.

We've learned that we use direct speech to show the words the character says out loud and the direct speech is signalled to the reader by using inverted commas.

We've learned that the reporting clause says who is speaking how they speak.

And it can include synonyms, said adverbs, actions, adverbial clauses and non-finite -ing clauses.

We've learned that the reporting clause can be placed before, after, or in the middle of the direct speech, and each version has its own punctuation rules that we must learn.

So I'm really hoping now you feel so much more confident in going and using these punctuation rules in your own writing because we often find when reads story that it's the speech that's the most exciting engaging part, the part that really gets us involved in the story.

So if you can punctuate it correctly, that makes it so much more engaging for our reader as well.

I hope to see you again in your future lesson.

You've done a fantastic job, goodbye.