Year 3 English · Key Stage 2 · Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation – English Appendix 2

Year 3 speech marks: an introduction to direct speech

When a character in a story speaks, the writer has to show the reader exactly which words were said. In Year 3, children are introduced to inverted commas, often called speech marks, which go around the spoken words in direct speech. They learn the terms direct speech and inverted commas, and begin to write simple dialogue that is clear to read.

Speech marks and direct speech, explained

Direct speech is the exact words a person says, written down so the reader can hear them. In writing, those words are set off by inverted commas. “Dinner is ready,” called Dad. Everything between the marks is what Dad said. “Called Dad” is the writer telling us who spoke, so it stays outside. Some schools teach single inverted commas (‘ ’) and others double (“ ”). Both are correct, as long as a piece of writing sticks to one style. The key idea for Year 3 is that the marks wrap around the spoken words and nothing else.

Two other habits go with this. The first spoken word starts with a capital letter, as it would in any sentence. And the punctuation at the end of the spoken words, whether a comma, full stop, question mark or exclamation mark, goes before the closing marks, inside them. Children begin with simple patterns, such as Dad called, “Dinner is ready.” or “Dinner is ready,” called Dad. The wider range of punctuation around speech is explored further in Year 4, so a few slips here are normal.

Teachers often begin by acting out. Children say a line aloud, write it in a speech bubble, and then turn the bubble into a sentence. This makes it clear that the words in the bubble are the words that belong inside the inverted commas. Many schools also show that a new speaker usually begins on a new line, which makes a conversation easy to follow. Reading dialogue aloud, with a voice for each character, is a good way to practise.

Direct speech is different from telling someone what was said without using their exact words. “Dad said that dinner was ready” reports the speech, and does not use inverted commas. Year 3 children are not expected to master this contrast, but it helps to know that inverted commas are only for words that were actually spoken. Good writers also vary the word that tells us who spoke, using called, asked, whispered or replied alongside said, and they ask whether the speech moves the story on.

Words your child will hear

Direct speech: The exact words someone says, written inside inverted commas.
Inverted commas: The marks that go before and after spoken words. Also called speech marks, and written as single or double marks.
Speaker: The person or character who says the words.
Speech bubble: A shape in a comic or picture that holds the words a character says. Writing the words from the bubble inside inverted commas is a good first step.
Question mark: The mark that ends a question. In direct speech it goes inside the closing inverted commas when the speech is a question.
Exclamation mark: The mark that shows a strong feeling or a shout. In direct speech it also goes inside the closing inverted commas.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Year 3 says:

Pupils should be taught an introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech
Pupils should be taught to recognise and use the grammatical terminology: direct speech, inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’)

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: turning speech bubbles into a sentence

Dad says, in a speech bubble, “Dinner is ready.” Sam says, in another, “Can I have more potatoes?” Write this as a short conversation with the correct punctuation.

Find the exact words each person says. For Dad: Dinner is ready. For Sam: Can I have more potatoes? Nothing else belongs inside the marks.
Put inverted commas before and after each speaker’s words, and keep the capital letter on the first spoken word: “Dinner is ready” and “Can I have more potatoes?”
Check the end of the spoken words. Dad’s line is a statement and the reporting words follow, so it ends with a comma inside the closing marks: “Dinner is ready,” called Dad.
Sam’s words are a question, so the question mark stays inside the marks, and the words telling us who spoke come after it: “Can I have more potatoes?” asked Sam.
Start a new line for each speaker, so the reader can see that the conversation has changed from one person to another.
```
“Dinner is ready,” called Dad.
“Can I have more potatoes?” asked Sam.
```
Try the other way round for variety: Dad called, “Dinner is ready.” The words telling us who spoke come first, so a comma comes before the opening marks, and the full stop comes before the closing marks.

First line: “Dinner is ready,” called Dad. New line: “Can I have more potatoes?” asked Sam.

Common mistakes and how to help

Putting the inverted commas round the whole sentence: “Dinner is ready, called Dad.”

Children see the sentence as one piece. They may not yet separate what was said from the words telling us who said it.

What helps: Ask “Which words came out of Dad’s mouth?” and only wrap those. Underline the spoken words in one colour and the rest in another before adding the marks.

Leaving the punctuation outside the closing marks

Children are used to putting a full stop at the very end of a sentence, so they put it after the marks and forget it belongs to the speech.

What helps: Remind them that the spoken words are complete and the punctuation is part of them. Read the line aloud: if the voice rises for a question, the question mark must be inside.

Forgetting the capital letter or the closing marks

Opening marks are easy to remember, but the closing ones are easy to lose, especially when the writing is quick or the speech is long.

What helps: Check each speech sentence by finding the pair: one set of marks opens, one set closes. A capital letter follows the opening marks.

Using inverted commas for reported speech: Dad said that “dinner was ready”

Children know that inverted commas are linked to speech and use them whenever someone talks, even when they are not quoting exact words.

What helps: Ask if these are the exact words spoken. If not, no marks are needed: Dad said that dinner was ready. If so, use them: Dad said, “Dinner is ready.”

How to help at home

Comic strip captions. Draw or look at a simple comic strip together. Ask your child to read each speech bubble aloud, then write the same words as a sentence with inverted commas and who said it.
Read the dialogue in different voices. When you read a story together, take parts. Whenever the words are inside inverted commas, one of you speaks as the character. This shows what the marks are for.
Which words were spoken? Read out a sentence from a book that has speech in it and ask your child to point to the spoken words and the words that tell us who spoke. Then find the marks that separate them.
Write a family conversation. Ask your child to record a short, real conversation from the day, such as a request at breakfast. They write down who said what with the correct marks, and a new line for each speaker.
Replace “said”. Make a list together of words that show how someone spoke: whispered, shouted, asked, replied. Use them in made-up sentences, each with inverted commas around the words spoken.

Updated 20 October 2026.