Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

• A. "Stop," she yelled.
• B. Stop," she yelled.
• C. Stop," she yelled".
• D. "Stop, she yelled."

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how to punctuate dialogue with a speaker tag. When the speaker’s words come first and are followed by a tag like “she yelled,” the comma that belongs to the spoken sentence goes inside the quotation marks. Then you close the quotation mark, continue with the speaker tag, and end the whole sentence with a period after the closing quotation mark. This shows that the spoken line ends with a pause (the comma) before the narrator adds the attribution, and the entire sentence finishes with a period. So the best version is the one that starts with the quotation mark, places the comma inside the quotes after Stop, then closes the quotation, followed by the tag and a final period. The other forms fail because they either omit the opening quote, misplace the closing quote, or place punctuation in the wrong spot relative to the quotes.

The key idea is how to punctuate dialogue with a speaker tag. When the speaker’s words come first and are followed by a tag like “she yelled,” the comma that belongs to the spoken sentence goes inside the quotation marks. Then you close the quotation mark, continue with the speaker tag, and end the whole sentence with a period after the closing quotation mark. This shows that the spoken line ends with a pause (the comma) before the narrator adds the attribution, and the entire sentence finishes with a period.

So the best version is the one that starts with the quotation mark, places the comma inside the quotes after Stop, then closes the quotation, followed by the tag and a final period. The other forms fail because they either omit the opening quote, misplace the closing quote, or place punctuation in the wrong spot relative to the quotes.