Single or double?
Speech marks (also called inverted commas) go around the exact words someone says. They come in two styles, and both are correct:
| Style | Looks like |
|---|---|
| Single ← use this one | ‘Come inside,’ said Mum. |
| Double | “Come inside,” said Mum. |
You will see double speech marks in lots of story books, so they are well worth recognising. But SEAG papers have traditionally used single ones, so that is the style to learn and to use in your test. Everything else on this page works exactly the same either way.
The golden rule: whichever style you start with, finish with the same one. Never mix them in one piece of speech.
The rules
- Put speech marks around the spoken words only.
- Start the spoken words with a capital letter.
- The punctuation at the end of the speech goes inside the closing speech mark.
- Start a new line each time a new person speaks.
Two patterns to learn
| Speech first | ‘Come inside,’ said Mum. |
|---|---|
| Speech last | Mum said, ‘Come inside.’ |
- If the speech is a question or exclamation, use ? or ! instead of the comma: ‘Where are you going?’ asked Leo.
- The word after the speech (said, asked, shouted) starts with a small letter, unless it is a name.
Reported speech has NO speech marks
- Direct: Grandad said, ‘I am tired.’
- Reported: Grandad said that he was tired. ← no speech marks
Watch out! ‘Come inside’, said Mum. ✘ The comma must be inside the speech marks: ‘Come inside,’ said Mum. ✔
Don’t be caught out: the closing speech mark ’ looks exactly like an apostrophe. In ‘That isn’t fair,’ said Ben. the middle one belongs to isn’t. Count carefully: the speech marks are the outside pair.
Top tip: pretend there is a speech bubble. Only the words in the bubble go inside the speech marks.