CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2c
The Standard
Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
What This Standard Means
Students need to show where a speaker’s exact words begin and end, and use a comma to separate the spoken words from the speaker tag. They should handle simple patterns like “Mom said, ‘Come here,’” and “I am ready,” said Luis.
Mastery means students can punctuate dialogue in their own sentences and fix missing or misplaced marks in a passage. Common trouble spots are putting commas outside the quotation marks, forgetting the closing quotation mark, and using quotation marks around thoughts or indirect speech.
Ways to Teach It
- Give pairs sentence strips with speaker tags and spoken words, then have them arrange and punctuate the dialogue with comma and quote cards.
- Prompt students to write four lines of dialogue between two characters arguing over the last cookie, using speaker tags correctly.
- Show three dialogue sentences, one correct and two with errors, and ask students to circle the correct one and fix the others.
- Bring in a short comic strip, then have students turn speech bubbles into punctuated dialogue sentences.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2c
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2b
Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2b
Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.2a
Use punctuation (commas, parentheses, dashes) to set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2b
Use commas in addresses.