punctuate direct speech year 4

Find out why teachers and school leaders love PlanBee

• 📚 Cross-Curricular Topics
• ✂️ Design & Technology
• ♻️ Education for Social Responsibility
• 🌍 Geography
• ⛪️ Religious Education
• 🎉 Special Days
• 🦸‍♀️ Special People
• 🏫 Whole School CURRICULUM PACKS
• Vision and Principles
• Our Curriculum Offer
• Whole School Curriculum Packs
• Become a Whole School Member
• FREE Schemes of Work
• Sample Packs
• Learn at Home
• Objective Checker
• How does it work?
• Special Offers
• BECOME A MEMBER 🧡

Direct Speech

What is direct speech.

Direct speech is a sentence where the exact words spoken by somebody are recorded in inverted commas (also known as speech marks). Inverted commas are used to show which written words are spoken by the character and other punctuation is used to help the reader understand when each character starts and stops speaking. Usually, the spoken words are accompanied by a reporting clause which contains a speech verb and reveals the identity of the speaker.

How to punctuate direct speech

To punctuate direct speech, follow these simple rules:

Start a new line for each new speaker. This helps the reader to keep track of who is speaking.

Add a pair of inverted commas around the words spoken by the character. The first pair of inverted commas should go before the first spoken word and the second pair should go after the punctuation which follows the last spoken word.

Begin the spoken words with a capital letter.

Add closing punctuation to follow the last spoken word. This could be a comma, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark or even an ellipsis if the character's thoughts trail off.

Use a comma to separate the direct speech and reporting clause.

Our KS2 English Journey scheme based on the beautifully illustrated book by Aaron Becker, is a fantastic way to introduce children to direct speech punctuation.

Children tend to find rules three and four the most difficult so make sure you explicitly teach the following:

a. If the reporting clause comes before the spoken words , add a comma to separate the clause from the direct speech and a full stop within the inverted commas to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, Isa suggested, "Let's get a closer look."

b. If the reporting clause comes after the direct speech, add a comma (or other appropriate punctuation) within the inverted commas to indicate that the sentence continues and a full stop after the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested.

c. If the reporting clause comes in the middle of the direct speech, add a comma within the inverted commas for the first piece of speech, a comma after the reporting clause before the second piece of speech and a full stop following the reporting clause to indicate the end of the sentence. For example, "Let's get a closer look," Isa suggested, "I want to know where the tunnel leads."

When do we use direct speech?

Direct speech is used in narratives to reveal more about the thoughts, motivations and personalities of the characters, and to let new characters introduce themselves.

Using dialogue between characters is also a quick and engaging way to move on the plot of a story. For example, an instruction from a character is a useful plot device as it can prompt another character to act or move to another time or location (e.g. "Lock the door.","Go to the tower.", "Recover the diamond.").

Questions can let characters explain where they have been or what they have been doing offstage ("Why are you late?', "Where have you been?, "Why are you doing this?).

Statements can tell you more about a character's surroundings ("It's a beautiful day.", " That door wasn't there before.") or where they stand on a particular issue ("I don't agree.", "This is a risky plan.").

Inspire your children to write effective dialogue for an adventure story with our KS2 One Thousand and One Arabian Nights scheme.

Misconceptions when punctuating direct speech

Understanding and applying the rules for direct speech is no mean feat. Here are the top five misconceptions that children may have as they learn how to punctuate direct speech.

Children do not know to include punctuation inside the inverted commas.

Children do not know when to use a comma instead of a full stop inside the inverted commas.

Children incorrectly position inverted commas around the beginning and end of a full sentence rather than around the spoken words.

Children do not apply the new speaker, new line convention.

Children capitalise the first word in a reporting clause that comes in the middle or at the end of the speech sentence. This often accompanies a misuse of a full stop as closing punctuation inside the inverted commas.

Addressing these misconceptions needs careful and explicit teaching. Here are five top tips for teaching children how to punctuate direct speech in KS2.

Make sure to provide children with variety of examples which use different sentences structures.

Encourage children to find different speech sentences in their reading books and explore the similarities and differences between them.

Provide examples of incorrectly punctuated speech sentences and ask children to spot and correct the errors (identifying errors in given texts is so much less daunting than jumping straight into applying the rules within your own writing).

Give children focused editing time either as a discrete activity where children to add punctuation to unpunctuated text or where they spot and correct direct speech punctuation during independent writing.

Offer children the opportunity to read and perform their dialogue (as this can really help child get to grips with why punctuation is so important for the reader).

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 3

Direct speech is introduced in the Year 3 English Curriculum. Here, children should be taught the correct terminology for 'inverted commas' and given opportunities to practise forming these correctly (during your regular handwriting sessions can work well). When children can identify and create inverted commas, they are ready to apply these to speech - adding opening and closing inverted commas around spoken words.

An engaging, hands-on activity to help children understand where to position the inverted commas in a speech sentence is to ask children to write speech sentences on whiteboards and add macaroni around the spoken words to represent the opening and closing inverted commas. This activity can be extended to include speech and a reporting clause to consolidate understanding and to address the misconception that inverted commmas are used at the beginning and end of the sentence, rather than at the beginning and end of the spoken words.

Introduce your children to direct speech with our magical Year 3 The Snowman scheme which provides children with the foundations for punctuating direct speech.

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 4

In Year 4, the focus should be mastering all of the punctuation required to indicate direct speech. This includes the use of a comma to separate the reporting clause from the piece of speech as well as using punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”. Children will need plenty of modelled examples as to when to use the different punctuation marks inside inverted commas to get to grips with when to use a comma, full stop and other punctuation.

By the end of Year 4, children should be able to choose more precise speech verbs for their reporting clause, using verbs such as growled, snarled, whispered, mumbled to let the reader know more about the speaker's personality or mood.

One way to help chidren understand the rules of punctuating direct speech is to use a text message template to show an exchange of dialogue between characters. This helps children understand that the speech for each character starts on a new line. It is also helpful for reinforcing the learning point from Year 3, that only the spoken words should be included within the opening and closing inverted commas. Children can use the speech given in the model as the basis for writing their own dialogue between the two characters, constructing their own reporting clauses using appropriate speech verbs and adverbs.

Why not use the our KS2 English Journey scheme or our Text to Speech FreeBee to give children an opportunity to practise using direct speech in their writing?

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 5

In Year 5, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences, positioning the reporting clause at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the spoken words. Here, children should consider the impact of these choices on pace and intensity. Children should be taught that the reporting clause can reveal a lot about how the words are spoken and the character of the speaker and start to experiment with adding additional clauses to add further contextual detail.

As children become more proficient with the direct speech punctuation and sentence structure, the focus of teaching should shift to encouraging children to write coherent and effective dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story.

Teaching progression in direct speech - Year 6

By Year 6, children should be able to vary the structure of their speech sentences and extend these to provide the reader with extra details about the speaker or their environment. Children should continue to write dialogue which conveys character and/or advances the action of the story,. The focus of teaching should shift to ensure that the children can integrate dialogue well into their narratives and that they know how to strike a balance between dialogue and description to produce an enjoyable or gripping experience for the reader.

In additon, children should also be taught how and when to use the structures associated with formal and informal speech to help set the tone of their piece or to contextualise their writing within a certain time period. To do this, use texts which allow you to explore a variety of speech conventions used by different characters such as those by Arthur Conan Doyale (e.g. Sherlock Holmes) or Charles Dickens (e.g. Scrooge, the Artful Dodger).  

LESSON PACK One Thousand and One Arabian Nights

FREE Speech Verbs and Adverbs Word Mat

LESSON PACK Journey

FREE Direct Speech Punctuation Guide

Added to your cart:

What's Your Email?

Let customers speak for us

This chart breaks the classifications down to simple concepts that my students can understand.

Thanks, Dian - we're happy to hear that this was useful for your students :-)

I’d been looking for a map with cities and mountains of the UK and, not only was this one perfect but I also got it free!

We're so pleased to hear that you found this FreeBee useful, Katy!

FREE Mini-Scheme: Ocean Animals

Thanks, Jo!

Love PlanBee. Amazing site and very useful resources available. Will definitely recommend to others.

Thank you for your comments, Mrs Lampard! We are a small team of five ex-teachers, so we really appreciate your feedback :-)

Super content matched to our school’s knowledge progression maps. I liked the embedded videos and QR code opportunities to view sources independently on tablets. I think the choice to buy individual lessons could be made clearer on the website. I liked the option to only buy the history content. The planning considered requirements of the NC eg thinking like historians and handling sources. Great unit of work. Thank you!

Hi Elaine, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review - we're so pleased to hear that you like our resources. We are just a small team of five ex-teachers, so we really appreciate your feedback :-)

You'll need JavaScript enabled to experience the full functionality of this site. Please enable JavaScript by following the instructions at enable-javascript.com .

Sorry, the browser you're currently using is not supported by this site. Please upgrade your browser by following the instructions at browser-update.org .

• Go to cgpbooks.co.uk
• Your Lessons

Punctuating Direct Speech — Going to the Park (Year 4)

Write a review

Choose your format:

Save to Your Lessons

Save to Homework

Share resource

Your download limit has been reached!

Check out our FAQs for more info. 

Check children’s understanding of inverted commas and direct speech with this worksheet. They must identify the incorrectly punctuated sentences and rewrite them.

Answers are provided so children can mark their own or each other’s work.

• Key Stage: Key Stage 2
• Subject: English
• Topic: Inverted commas
• Topic Group: Punctuation
• Year(s): Year 4
• Media Type: PDF
• Resource Type: Worksheet
• Last Updated: 23/10/2023
• Resource Code: E2WAT860
• Curriculum Point(s): Indicate grammatical and other features by using and punctuating direct speech.

Related Topics:

Other Teachers Downloaded...

Direct Speech — Rewrite the Sentence (Years 3-4)

• Inverted commas
• Key Stage 2 English

Using Inverted Commas — Spot the Mistakes! (Years 3-4)

The Broken Vase — Inference Scaffolding (Years 3-4)

• Comprehension

Identifying Nouns and Verbs in Sentences (Years 3-4)

Apostrophes for Possession and Contractions (Year 4)

• Apostrophes

Expanded Noun Phrases — Adding Adjectives and Prepositional Phrases (Year 4)

• Words, Phrases and Clauses

No reviews (yet!)

Related Resources

Inverted Commas— Busy Breakfast: Foundation (Year 3)

Using Inverted Commas (Years 3-4)

Inverted Commas — Fairground Chatter (Year 3)

Inverted Commas For Direct Speech (Year 3)

Punctuation Practice — Which Sentence is Correct? (Year 5)

• Mixed Punctuation

Inverted Commas — Fairground Chatter: Foundation (Year 3)

Writing From Memory Spelling and Punctuation Check (Year 4)

• Drafting and Writing

Using Inverted Commas — Speech Bubbles (Years 3-4)

Using Inverted Commas (Years 5-6)

Punctuation Practice — Which Sentence is Correct?: Foundation (Year 5)

Splitting up Speech (Years 5-6)

Cookies are disabled on your browser. This means some features of the site won't be fully available to you.

CGP uses cookies to give you a smooth shopping experience and to help us understand how well our site is working. To agree to us using all cookies, click 'Accept', or to reject optional cookies click 'Customise'.

Accept cookies Customise cookies

• £ 0.00 0 items

Year 4 Punctuating Direct Speech

This Year 4 Punctuating Direct Speech activity comprises questions designed to test pupils’ understanding of punctuating direct speech. Pupils will: identify correctly punctuated direct speech; identify where inverted commas should not appear; identify a speech bubble that has been converted correctly; and reconstruct a sentence containing direct speech.

Teacher Specific Information

This activity is linked to the Classroom Secrets Year 4 GPS scheme of work .​ Questions in this activity are based on the content in Spring Block 2 Step 2 on the Classroom Secrets website, where you can find more resources.

National Curriclum Objectives:

English Year 4: (4G5.7) Using and punctuating direct speech English Year 4: (4G5.7) Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech [for example, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”]

Have you visited our sister site yet?

Primary resources for teachers

Classroom Secrets provides high-quality, affordable teaching resources that children love, and teachers trust.

Stay in touch

01422 419608

[email protected]

Interested in getting weekly updates from us? Then sign up to our newsletter here!

Information

• Cookie Policy
• Privacy Settings
• Terms and Conditions
• End User License Agreement

Copyright: Classroom Secrets 2024

Company number: 8401067

VAT number: 248824574

Designed by Classroom Secrets

Bootstrap Modal Title

Bootstrap modal body text should be here.

Classroom Stars

Year 4 | Punctuating Direct Speech Worksheets

In these Year 4 punctuating direct speech worksheets , a set of sentences is provided for your learners to rewrite. Their task is to add all the missing punctuation, including applying speech marks for direct speech. Following this, your class will encounter additional sentences that require punctuation, involving full stops and speech marks.

This worksheet serves as an ideal tool to help your pupils practice punctuating direct speech, allowing them to play the roles of both editors and writers!

Our Year 4 punctuation worksheets are aligned with the KS2 national curriculum and complement your primary learning activities, differentiation, homework and lesson plans.

If this resource appeals to you, you might also like to explore further details about our Year 4 inverted commas and direct speech worksheets .

Check out all of our Year 4 English worksheets .

Access this resource and thousands more for just £9.95 per year

You might also like...

Year 1 | Half (Fractions) Worksheets

Year 2 | Multiplication Facts Worksheets

Year 5 | Rounding Worksheets

You have subscribed to our newsletter.

You have joined the list to receive our newsletter! Be sure to look out for all our latest resources, news and reads from our blog.

New password created

Your new password has been created. A confirmation email has been sent to you.

Check your email

We have sent you an email with a link to create a new password.

Remember to check the junk folder in case the link was sent there.

Your message has been received

Thank you for getting in contact with us! A member of our team will do their best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Request for school membership received

Thank you for providing us with your details. A member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible with the next steps.

Email address updated

Your email address has been updated. A confirmation has been sent to your previous email address.

Download your free resource pack

Thank you for joining the list to receive our newsletter! Click below to download your free sample resource pack.

Username or Email

Remember Me

Lost Password?

• Primary Hub
• Art & Design
• Design & Technology
• Health & Wellbeing
• Secondary Hub
• Citizenship
• Primary CPD
• Secondary CPD
• Book Awards
• All Products
• Primary Products
• Secondary Products
• School Trips
• Trip Directory
• Trips by Subject
• Trips by Type
• Trips by Region
• Submit a Trip Venue

Trending stories

Top results.

• Speech Marks Inverted Commas Ks2 Worksheets Resources

Speech marks / inverted commas KS2 – 7 of the best SPaG worksheets and resources

Get primary pupils properly punctuating direct speech with these worksheets, activities and ideas for teaching inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’)…

What are inverted commas?

Inverted commas, also known as speech marks or quotation marks (sometimes ‘quote marks’), are punctuation marks used in writing to indicate speech or a quotation.

They can also be used to indicate a phrase or quote, but typically in British English we use single quotation marks for this, whereas American English uses double.

But we all still use the double bunny ears when doing air quotes…

Inverted commas National Curriculum programme of study links

Year 3 : Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech

Year 4 : Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech [for example, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”]

1 | How to use inverted commas video guide

For a nice little introduction or recap to inverted commas, watch this video of Mr Thorne take you through their uses.

It’s clearly explained with large captions across the bottom so that children can see his examples written out with the correct punctuation.

2 | Year 4 punctuating direct speech resource pack

This powerful KS2 grammar resources pack provides everything you need to teach how to punctuate direct speech. The pack is split into five parts and is differentiated for three levels of ability.

Get this resource pack here.

3 | Direct speech challenge worksheets

This bright, appealing grammar worksheet is an excellent way to practise and revise using direct speech in Year 4.

It is divided into five sections: understand, challenge, test, explain and apply.

Activities include SATs style questions and opportunities for creative writing responses, with eye-catching images as prompts.

Find this one here.

4 | Quotation marks worksheet

This two-page worksheet has six tasks and an extension all revolving around punctuating speech.

So it starts with putting speech marks into sentences, then putting speech marks and all other punctuation, before building up to punctuating longer passages.

Print it here.

5 | Speech marks washing line

This handy idea was created by Clarice Morley, an English teacher in a Pupil Referral Unit, who found her boys were struggling with the use of speech marks.

They invented three characters – male, female and a rabbit – and produced some labels such as “Rory exclaimed” and “Brenda whispered”. Clarice then stretched a washing line across the board, and had two pegs with the speech marks on.

The boys would write something someone would say onto a piece of paper, then they matched one of the labels with one of their speeches, and hung the speech on the washing line.

They soon grasped it is only the reported speech that hangs on the line, and the pegs (speech marks) keep it in place.

Print out the worksheet for this resource here.

6 | Speech mark rules

There are many “rules” of speech marks, but no definitive list, and you don’t want to overwhelm children with too many while they’re just learning.

So this Rising Stars list of five rules is a nice size for children to read and take in.

Check it out here.

7 | Inverted commas worksheet set

This resource set has three parts. One is ‘Witch and Tiger Conversation’, which shows ten pictures with blank speech bubbles. Children choose names for the witch and the tiger, then create the contents of the conversation.

Next they re-write this conversation in the form of a story by adding phrases such as ‘said Tom’ and ‘asked Joe’ as well as speech marks and other punctuation.

The second and third parts are ‘Missing Speech Marks’ worksheets, where children need to add speech marks to sentences.

Get all this here.

Sign up to our newsletter

You'll also receive regular updates from Teachwire with free lesson plans, great new teaching ideas, offers and more. (You can unsubscribe at any time.)

Which sectors are you interested in?

Early Years

Thank you for signing up to our emails!

You might also be interested in...

Why join Teachwire?

Get what you need to become a better teacher with unlimited access to exclusive free classroom resources and expert CPD downloads.

Exclusive classroom resource downloads

Free worksheets and lesson plans

CPD downloads, written by experts

Resource packs to supercharge your planning

Special web-only magazine editions

Educational podcasts & resources

Access to free literacy webinars

Newsletters and offers

Create free account

By signing up you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy .

Already have an account? Log in here

Thanks, you're almost there

To help us show you teaching resources, downloads and more you’ll love, complete your profile below.

Welcome to Teachwire!

Set up your account.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Commodi nulla quos inventore beatae tenetur.

I would like to receive regular updates from Teachwire with free lesson plans, great new teaching ideas, offers and more. (You can unsubscribe at any time.)

Log in to Teachwire

Not registered with Teachwire? Sign up for free

Reset Password

Remembered your password? Login here

Popular searches in the last week:

Spag: using and punctuating direct speech.

English | Year 4

Lesson Planning

TAs & Tutors / Home Learning

With TA/Tutor

These materials are for a TA or Tutor to use with a small group of children or one child.

They support the learning in class in this unit.

Notes are provided for teacher and TA/Tutor.

• TA/Tutor Activities

Back to Lockdown?

If your class or school is having to close for a while, these materials provide a home dimension as well as a clear route map outlining what to teach online, and what to practise at home.

• Route Map for Teachers

SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation

You Will Need

Texts Read Me 1 by Gaby Morgan The Works by Paul Cookson

Presentations SPAG PowerPoint: Direct Speech

This site uses cookies to give you the most relevant information. Learn more

Log in or sign up to get access to this resource

School subscription, reduce teacher workload.

From £155 (+ VAT) per year. Access to all key stages for multiple users.

Individual Subscription

For inspirational teaching.

Just £45 (£37.50 + VAT) per year to get access to all resources.

Early Career Teacher

Develop your teaching.

Just £33 (£27.50 + VAT) to get access to all resources for 2 years.

Taster Account

100s of resources.

Register to access all free resources.

Already subscribed?

Log in to get access.

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

SPaG Presentation: Punctuating Direct Speech ( Inverted Commas)

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Other

Last updated

22 February 2018

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Creative Commons "NoDerivatives"

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

supersheila

Great resource. Thank you!

Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user

clarebastow

What a great resource. Really comprehensive. Thank you.

lauramd1996

Thank you from a trainee teacher.

This is great just what I needed for my students thank you

maria_f_oreyelu

Massive thank you! This is superb much like all your other presentations.

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Making great literacy lessons easy. Why join Plazoom?

Year 4 Punctuating Direct Speech - KS2 Grammar Burst Resource Pack (1)

Resource Collection Grammar Bursts

Subscribe today and receive…

• Unlimited access to 1000s of resources
• 80+ CPD guides and 60+ training videos
• Access to THREE whole-school curriculums: - Real Writing - Real Comprehension - Real Grammar
• The complete Word Whosh vocabulary building programme
• Free subscription to Teach Reading & Writing magazine, and digital access to all back issues
• Exclusive, member-only resource collections
• New resources added every week

This powerful KS2 grammar resources pack provides everything you need to teach a series of five lessons on punctuating direct speech, culminating in an extended writing task where children can use their grammatical understanding in context.

What is included in this direct speech KS2 resource pack?

• Direct speech PowerPoint

With explanations, examples and activities to introduce this topic to your class

• Reporting clause PDF cards These cards come in two sizes and include reporting clauses such as ‘he claimed’, ‘Gary pleaded’ and ‘she whispered’
• Direct speech Challenge worksheets Tick the sentences that are punctuated correctly, add punctuation where needed to sentences and use the image to write a conversation between the two characters
• Jack and the Beanstalk direct speech story sheet Rewrite the story using the direct speech given, but add the action, and continue the story with more speech if you want to extend the activity
• Writing plan Includes an image and writing prompts to plan a short story
• Teacher’s notes

What is direct speech?

Direct speech in writing is where you are directly quoting someone’s words, and these are marked by inverted commas eg “I’ll meet you at the library tomorrow morning,” Sharon said.

Indirect (or reported) speech, on the other hand, is where you are given a rough approximation of what someone said, and doesn’t require quotation/speech marks, eg ‘Sharon told them she’d see them in the library tomorrow.’

What are inverted commas?

Inverted commas go before and after direct speech, surrounding what was said.

Direct speech examples

“I’m bored,” he complained.

“What’s that noise?” he asked. “Your sister!” his dad replied.

The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”

National Curriculum English programme of study links

Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech

This resource is part of the Grammar Bursts collection. View more from this collection

• Teacher notes
• Punctuating direct speech challenge worksheet
• Reporting clause cards
• Writing plan
• Uplevelling writing sheet
• Jack and the Beanstalk story sheet

Trending Today

Ks2 comprehension – classic literature…, ks1 and ks2 writing templates for…, year 1 home learning pack (1), year 6 spelling revision – ks2…, look inside.

Click through to see what this resource has to offer

More from this collection

Year 4 expanded noun phrases grammar worksheets lesson pack, year 6 synonyms and antonyms grammar worksheets lesson pack, year 6 passive voice – ks2 grammar worksheets lesson pack, year 4 writing dialogue: ks2 grammar burst, year 3 coordinating conjunctions grammar worksheets lesson pack, year 2 coordinating conjunctions grammar worksheets lesson pack, year 4 determiners - ks2 grammar burst resource pack, year 4 fronted adverbials ks2 grammar burst worksheets and lesson pack, browse by year group, upgrade now.

Click 'Upgrade now' to activate your subscription. An invoice will appear on your accounts page and be sent by email. Once paid, the benefits of your full account will be unlocked within five days.