KS2 Speech Marks Worksheet | Free Printable
- Age
- 7–9, 10–12
- School year
- Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- ⭐⭐
- Skills
- punctuation · dialogue · speech marks
- Learning objective
- By the end, your child can punctuate speech correctly — inverted commas, punctuation inside them, and a new line for each new speaker.
Punctuating speech trips up a lot of children. There are really just three rules to master: put inverted commas around the exact words spoken, keep the punctuation INSIDE them, and start a new line each time the speaker changes.
This mission builds those rules up one at a time, ending with your child writing their own conversation.
How to use this
- Read each line aloud — hearing where the speech starts and stops helps a lot.
- The answer guide for the first missions is at the bottom.
“Watch out!” yelled Sam.
💡 Inverted commas hug the spoken words; the ! stays inside.
Mum smiled. “Dinner's ready,” she said.
💡 A comma goes before the closing inverted comma.
Mission 1🔎 Speech Detective
Add the inverted commas (“ ”) around ONLY the words that are actually spoken.
- Stop right there! shouted the guard.
- I think we're lost, said Mia.
- Where are we going? asked Tom.
💡 Inverted commas hug the spoken words — not “said Mia”.
Mission 2🛟 Punctuation Rescue
These lines are missing the punctuation INSIDE the speech. Add the right comma, full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
- “Look over there” whispered Ravi.
- “Are you coming with us” asked Grace.
- “That's amazing” she cried.
Mission 3↵ New Speaker, New Line
Rewrite this squashed conversation so each new speaker starts on a new line.
- “Hello,” said Ben. “Hi there,” replied Zoe. “Shall we go?” asked Ben.
Mission 4✍️ Now Write!
Write a short conversation (4–6 lines) between two characters who disagree about something. Use all three rules.
Success checklist
- ✅ I can put inverted commas around the spoken words only.
- ✅ I can keep the punctuation inside the speech marks.
- ✅ I can put a comma before “said/asked/replied”.
- ✅ I can start a new line for each new speaker.
Answer guide (for grown-ups)
- Mission 1: “Stop right there!” shouted the guard. / “I think we're lost,” said Mia. / “Where are we going?” asked Tom.
- Mission 2: “Look over there,” whispered Ravi. / “Are you coming with us?” asked Grace. / “That's amazing!” she cried.
- Mission 3: Each of Ben's and Zoe's lines should start on its own new line. The punctuation stays the same.
- Mission 4: Open writing task — check the three rules: inverted commas around spoken words, punctuation inside, new line per speaker.
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