South Dakota ELA 4.L.2.c

ELA4th GradeLanguage

The Standard

4.L.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue and quotations from a text.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students show where a speaker's exact words begin and end. They use a comma to separate those words from a speaker tag. They also mark exact words copied from a text.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can write a line such as Mia said, "I found it." with the comma and quotation marks in place. They can copy words from a passage exactly and put quotation marks only around those words.
Common Misconceptions: Students may put the comma outside the quotation marks in dialogue. They may also put quotation marks around a paraphrase or change words while claiming to quote a passage.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Punctuate Sam said I found the key. Then complete The passage says ___ using this printed line: The cave was dark.

Lesson moves

Give pairs word cards for Maya said I see a fox, plus comma and quotation mark tiles, and have them build the punctuated line.
Ask students to punctuate Ben said I am ready, then explain where they placed the comma and the first quotation mark.
Run a punctuation relay: teams correct four lines of dialogue on the board, then compare their marks with an answer key.
Hand out a school newsletter paragraph; students choose one sentence and quote its exact words in a sentence of their own.

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