Page 62 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]

48 / P ART ONE: THE B AS ICS

punctuation mark would be a comma and the following
speech would start with a small letter instead of a capital
letter. Look at the following example:

‘I do wish,’ he sighed, ‘that you wouldn’t get so upset.’

There is a comma after ‘sighed’ and ‘that’ does not begin
with a capital letter.

Returning to the narrative
When the speaker has finished speaking and the story or
narrative is resumed, a new paragraph is started:

‘You invited her,’ retorted Brian.
Ruth flounced out of the room, slamming the door.
She was furious; she had been so sure her sister would
refuse the invitation.

Quoting correctly
Inverted commas are also used to enclose quotations and
titles:

She went to see the film ‘Sense and Sensibility’.

‘A stitch in time saves nine’ is a famous proverb.
The expression ‘the mind’s eye’ comes from Shake-
speare’s play ‘Hamlet’.

Notice that the full stop has been placed outside the inverted
commas when the quotation or title is at the end of the
sentence as it forms part of the sentence.