|
|
Welcome
to this week's FREE
writing lesson
Topic:
Word order for
quotations.
|
In our last lesson, we discussed how
you can quote people while accurately showing the speaker's emotions and the
feeling of the situation. If you have not seen this lesson, click
here.
Last time, we discussed that it
is important to use other words for "say" and "said."
For example, if the situation is a man who just discovered his wallet was
stolen, the writer would NOT want to use the word "said."
George discovered his
wallet was stolen. He yelled,
"My wallet is missing! Someone stole it."
"Yelled" is a much
better word than "said." It expresses the emotions of
George and the atmosphere.
To be a little more creative, you
may want to change the word order. This is another way to make your
writing more interesting. We could write
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" George
yelled.
We put the name and communication
word ("yelled") at the end of the sentence. We can even change the order of
the last two words.
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" yelled
George.
Again, by using different words
for "say" and varying the order of the words, the writing becomes much
more interesting to the reader.
You can NOT reverse the order of
the last two words if there is a pronoun. For example,
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" he
yelled. CORRECT
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" yelled
he. INCORRECT
|
|
Quiz:
Show all alternative ways of writing the following sentences.
1. The chairman asked,
"Where is my limousine?"
_________________________________________________________________
2. My sister screamed,
"You took my diary!"
_________________________________________________________________
3. I said, "I didn't
take it."
_________________________________________________________________
4. Amanda declared,
"I will be president one day. I will be the first U.S.
president."
_________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.
Answer:
"Where
is my limousine?" asked the chairman.
"Where is my
limousine?" the chairman asked.
Explanation: Notice
that there is a question mark (?) within the quotation marks. If
the quote should include a question mark or an exclamation mark (!), the punctuation
must be within the quotation marks. In this sentence, the question
mark is used because the person asked a question. In addition,
notice that the word after the question mark does not begin with a capital
letter ("asked" and "the"). This is because
the sentence is not completed until the end of the attributive phrase
("asked the chairman"). This is common in all types of
literature.
2.
Answer:
"You
took my diary!" my sister screamed.
"You took my
diary!" screamed my sister.
3.
Answer:
"I
didn't take it," I said.
Explanation: The comma is inside the
quotation marks.
4.
Answer:
"I will be president one day," Amanda declared. "I will be the first U.S.
president."
"I will be president one day," declared Amanda. " I will be the first U.S.
president."
"I
will be president one day. I will be the first U.S.
president," Amanda declared.
"I
will be president one day. I will be the first U.S.
president," declared Amanda.
Explanation: There are lots of possibilities
for this one. You can break up the quote into 2 parts and put the
attributive phrase in the middle, or you can keep the quote
together. It is important to note that you do NOT use a pair of
quotation marks for every sentence. You use the closing quotation
marks when the quote is completed. Then you insert another pair of
quotation marks when the quote begins again. This rule is best
illustrated in the first and second sentences above.
|
|
|
|
Rules to Remember!
|
| 1 |
You can NOT reverse the order of
the attributive phrase if there is a pronoun. For example:
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" he
yelled. CORRECT
"My wallet is missing.
Someone stole it!" yelled
he. INCORRECT
|
| 2 |
Most of the time, the punctuation (?!.,) is INSIDE
the quotation marks. However, it is not always inside the
quotation marks. This topic will be further discussed in a later
lesson.
|
| 3 |
It is important to note that you do NOT use
a pair of quotation marks for every sentence. You use the closing
quotation marks when the quote is completed. Then you insert
another pair of quotation marks when the quote begins again.
Abraham Lincoln said, "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
|
Do you want to send this lesson to someone? Click
here!
Looking for books to improve your
writing? Click
here!
© 2001 MyEnglishTeacher.net. All rights
reserved. No information or lessons contained on this page or any page in
this Web site may be used without the expressed written permission of
MyEnglishTeacher.net and its parent company Advanced
Learning Center. This lesson may only be copied and may only be used
in a classroom for educational purposes exclusively. When using in a
classroom for educational purposes, this copyright notice MUST be included on
all copies. The material
contained on this page and all pages in this Web site are covered by copyright
laws. Therefore, no material may be used for
another Web site, book, magazine, or any other use. To use this material,
please email us at staff@myenglishteacher.net
©2000 Advanced
Learning Center. All rights reserved. If you find an error
on this Web site please email
us and let us know. We appreciate all feedback and suggestions.
|
