10. Report the following conversation.
"
Oh,
I'm sorry to be early, Susan," said Jane. "Am I the first
to arrive?"
"Yes, you are," Susan replied, "but it really doesn't matter."
"No, I am terribly sorry. The babysitter arrived early," said Jane.
"Well, why don't you help me in the kitchen?" said Susan. "Of course. What would you like me to do?" replied Jane. "Oh, no! I can smell the sausages burning," Susan cried, "I'd forgotten all about them. I hope they're not burnt." "You must let me see to them," Jane said. "Go ahead and greet your guests. I think I can hear the first ones arriving."
...Jane apologised to Susan for being early..................................
Punctuation in Direct Speech
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We capitalize the first word of the quoted sentence. The full stop, the question mark, the exclamation mark and the comma come inside the inverted commas. The comma comes outside the inverted commas only when "he said/asked" precedes the quoted sentence. "She is on holiday," he said. He said, "She is on holiday." "She," he said, "is on holiday." We do not use a comma after the question mark. "Shall we go out?" he asked, but: He asked, "Shall we go out?" The subject pronoun comes before the reporting verb (said, asked etc) whereas the noun subject often comes after "said", "asked" etc at the end or in the middle of the quoted sentence. "She failed the test," he said. "She failed the test," said Tom. "She," said Tom, "failed the Each time the speaker changes we normally start a new paragraph. |
test."but:
He/Tom said, "She failed the test." (not: Said Tom,
"She failed the test.")
11. Punctuate the following making any other necessary changes.
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1. Shall we play tennis on Saturday she asked 2. Colin his mother said is not here 3. He said stop it 4. Why are you late the teacher asked |
5. Red is my favourite colour Tom said 6. Danny said I play the piano 7. Do you prefer basketball or football Peter asked 8. Barbara said I wasn't even there |
12. Turn the following into a conversation. Mind the puctuation.
The policeman ordered the driver to step out of his car. The driver agreed, but he wondered what the matter was. The policeman inquired if the driver had been speeding, but the driver denied it. The policeman explained that it was illegal to drive at more than 50 km an hour on this stretch of road. The driver protested that he hadn’t been speeding but the policeman insisted that he had. The policeman explained that he was obliged to give the driver a ticket for speeding. ……….. “Step out of your car!” said the policeman…
Subjunctive
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The bare infinitive form of the subjunctive is used after certain verbs and expressions to give emphasis. These are: advise, ask, demand, insist, propose, recommend, request, suggest, it is essential, it is imperative, it is important, it is necessary, it is vital followed by (that) + subject. In British English we use should + simple form instead of the bare infinitive form of the subjunctive. He insists (that) we be here on time. (less usual) He insists (that) we should be here on time. (more usual) |