Speech marks "" show us when somebody is talking. There are exceptions to the rule, namely plays, but most of the time these are good indicators to aid our reading.

Copy these sentences into your books. Put the speech marks in the correct places.

1. Quick! Pass the ball to me! Shouted Carla. No one is marking me.
2. Can I help you? Asked the policeman. You look a bit lost young lady.
3. Oh no! Don't let Mr Cockcroft take the penalty! Shouted Nick.
4. I'll meet you in town, said Tom. Just by the cake shop.
5. I've dropped my wallet, said Craig. It must be round here somewhere.
6. Look at this picture, said Mr Pitchford. It's magnificent!

To make your writing more interesting, try not to use 'said' all the time. Think of 8 other words you could use and write these words into a sentence with speech in it to show me you can use the words in context.

Copy the passage into your books. You must add in the speech marks AND remember new speaker, new line.

I'm afraid I have some bad news, Mrs Brown said to the children. Your father has had an accident. What's the matter? Rob asked. Is it serious? Will he have to go to hospital? Pete asked. Will he have to have an operation? Debbie asked. Now don't worry, Mrs Brown replied. It's not as bad as all that. Someone crashed into his car but he hasn't broken any bones. That's a relief! Rob exclaimed. But I bet he's a bit shaken up, said Debbie. He sounded fine on the phone, Mrs Brown said, but the car is badly damaged. A damaged car, said Pete, is better than a damaged Dad!

The passage in task three uses direct speech. We know this because it uses speech marks. Your task is to rewrite the passage using indirect speech (no speech marks). You may find you need to change a few words.

To help you I have done the first line for you.

Mrs Brown said she had some bad news.

Now you carry on!

Find a play script and turn a page of this into a story by including more detail, specifically including speech marks.