Punctuation in Dialog

Welcome to the third in a series of grammar tutorials! You can find the first one on commas in compound sentences here.

The second one teaches the position of commas, periods, colons, and semicolons when used with quotation marks. What could be more exciting?!

Dialog punctuation tutorial

Do you have students who love to hide in their bedrooms and write story after story?

Most likely, they are hoping to be published one day, their stories read and loved by millions, their names on the covers of sought-after books.

One thing editors look for in a new writer is proficiency in grammar and punctuation. Granted, it’s not a huge thing; it’s more important to know how to write a great story. But grammar is an indicator of how well the writer knows the language and its conventions, and it is something that editors take into account when determining whom to publish.

Let’s make sure our students have access to the skills they need to get published.

A tiff between Tarzan and Jane in this fun tutorial will guide your students through the punctuation-in-dialog jungle.

Where to Put the Comma, Period, Colon, and Semicolon When Using Quotation Marks

SHARON’S BLOG

This compelling grammar lesson answers such thorny questions as this one: “Mom, does a period go before or after the last quotation mark?”

You can find the first in the series of grammar tutorials here; it’s all about compound sentences, coordinating conjunctions, and commas. And if that doesn’t create some excitement in the classroom, I don’t know what will.

Punctuation and quotation marks tutorial

This week’s tutorial includes the following:

An infographic to teach the material
A set of sentences your students can correct to reinforce the material
The answers to the sentences

There are only two rules (can you believe it?), and they are easy (again, is it to be believed?).

This lesson does not cover quotation marks in dialog. Tarzan is in charge of that here.

As you’ll notice by the infographic,

The Memory of Snow

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

In The Giver by Lois Lowry, young Jonas becomes the Receiver of Memories. Because his people control the weather, he’s never seen snow. The first cultural memory transmitted to him from The Giver is of snow.

Here’s how Lois Lowry writes Jonas’s first encounter with the idea of snow. Notice how she uses many senses to communicate snow’s feel to readers:

How to Use Commas in Compound Sentences with Coordinating Conjunctions

SHARON’S BLOG

Okay, so the title of today’s article isn’t the most exciting. In fact, you might find it downright boring—or intimidating.

I’ve been known to zone out when my husband tries to explain football lingo and rules to me. My eyes glaze over. My ears stop working. The same might be true for your students and the subject of commas.

Commas, Compound Sentences, and Coordinating Conjunctions

You can use the infographic below to teach students when to use commas in a compound sentence that is joined by a coordinating conjunction.

In this tutorial, you’ll find the following goodies:

An infographic to teach the material
A free, downloadable exercise
The answers

The Discoveries of Youth

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

There’s an advantage to being very, very young. I’m talking about younger than you are now.

When you’re really little, you discover new things all the time, things that seem old or boring to you now. Everything is amazing; everything is new.

The following is a passage from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. It’s about a woman remembering back to her youth, thinking about the first time she had discovered . . . well, I’ll let you read it:

Snowflakes in Summer?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Hot, sweaty, summer days are filled with things you can’t do other times of the year, things like going on a beach vacation, weeding and harvesting, canning, swimming outdoors, catching fireflies, going camping, spending time with friends, and so on.

So perhaps it makes no logical sense that this prompts is really about winter.

It’s Not Just Your Parents

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You probably are used to your parents limiting the time you can spend on social media: texting, tweeting, watching movies and YouTube, checking in on Instagram, and gaming. Now doctors are in on it, too.

The American Academy of Pediatrics believes limits should be set on

Create a Character from a Photo

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You want to create a character for your story, but you’re stuck. You can’t think of one.

Keep reading to find out one trick that will give you oodles of ideas.

As readers, we find out about characters by what they do and say, what others say about them, what they look like, and what they wear. For instance, if a character

Proofreading: Three Methods to Make it Easier

SHARON’S BLOG

Proofreading is never easy. Anyone who says it’s easy is trying to sell you something or has never actually tried it.

If we can’t make it easy, at least we can make it easier for our troubled, weeping students. In fact, with these three tips, you can change it from a job that requires the strength of a backhoe to one that uses a garden trowel.

Many professional writers use the first two methods in their own writing, and so can your students. The third one is exclusively for students.

The Talking Shoes

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

When was the last time your shoes talked to you?

Anthropomorphism is a word for “in the form of a human.” It’s close to the term personification, and if you mix them up, it’s okay by me.

Anthropomorphism means giving human attributes to something that is not human. For instance, the Toy Story movies use anthropomorphism to give life to the toys, as do all the Transformer movies and any other movies or stories in which animals or objects talk, laugh, plan, and do other things humans do.

An example of someone’s shoes taking on the human characteristic of speech occurs in Alexander McCall Smith’s Blue Shoes and Happiness. This passage comes just after the character believes she has made a terrible mistake with her fiancé and might have lost him: