Direct speech: inverted commas and new speakers

Tests: 3 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 35 of the english course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · wrong ✗

Your mate goes "speech marks are for when people shout, innit." What is the truth?

1. They mean the words are made up — no support
2. They are only for questions — no support
3. They go around any exact spoken words — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. They are only for shouting in capital letters — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 2: «The punctuation that ends the spoken words goes inside the marks: a comma if the sentence carries on ("Hello," said Sam), a question mark for a question ("Wher…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «shout» (+5). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · wrong ✗

★★★ How many new lines are needed in a conversation where Sam speaks, then Mia, then Sam, then Sam again with no one in between?

1. Two — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Four — score 5
3. One — score 5
4. Three — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 35, line 2: «The punctuation that ends the spoken words goes inside the marks: a comma if the sentence carries on ("Hello," said Sam), a question mark for a question ("Wher…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «ask» (+4); the same doer «sam» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

In a comic, a speech bubble says "Run!" What would the same line look like in a story?

1. Run! "yelled the boy." — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. "Run!" yelled the boy. — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Run yelled! "the boy." — no support
4. "Run" yelled the boy! — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

Nan from Cardiff, laughing: "Come here for a cwtch, you daft thing." ("Cwtch" is a cuddle in Wales.) Written as speech, where do the marks go?

1. Nowhere, because it is Welsh — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Around all of Nan's exact words — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Only around "you daft thing", the rude part — no support
4. Only around the Welsh word "cwtch" — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

What would happen if every line of a long conversation was in one paragraph?

1. Nothing at all, readers always know — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Readers would lose track of who was speaking — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The story would become much easier for readers to follow — no support
4. It would turn into reported speech — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · right ✓

A Gen Z cousin writes: "I'm dead," she laughed. ("I'm dead" means that's so funny.) Is the punctuation right?

1. Yes, the comma is inside the marks — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yes, but only because she laughed — no support
3. No, slang can't go in speech marks — no support
4. No, the comma must go outside the marks — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · wrong ✗

★★★ Which sentence is split speech with correct punctuation?

1. "Wait," said Jo, "My lace is undone." — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. "Wait, said Jo, my lace is undone." — no support
3. "Wait," said Jo, "my lace is undone." — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. "Wait" said Jo, "my lace is undone." — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

Dad, grumpy, says: Turn that racket down now (he is shouting). Which is best?

1. "Turn that racket down now," bellowed Dad? — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. "Turn that racket down now?" bellowed Dad. — no support
3. "Turn that racket down now!" bellowed Dad. — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Turn that racket down now! "bellowed Dad." — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

Tom from Texas: "Y'all fixin' to eat?" ("Fixin' to" means about to.) In a story, what goes at the end of his words?

1. Nothing, it is dialect — no support
2. A question mark inside the marks — ✓ the right answer · score 7
3. A full stop outside the marks — ← Mova's choice · score 10
4. A comma outside the marks — score 10

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 10, tied with another option at 10 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 33, line 16: «A comma also cuts off a little tag word added at the end, like "eh" or "innit": "It's cold, eh."», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «comma» (+4). The right option, 2, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · right ✓

★★★ "Mia said that she would come." Which is the direct speech version?

1. "I will come," said Mia. — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. "Mia will come," said she would. — no support
3. Mia said, "she would come." — no support
4. "She will come," said Mia. — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · right ✓

A UK book uses 'single marks' all through; then on page 40 it uses "double". What is the problem?

1. It is not consistent — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Single marks are always wrong — no support
3. Double marks are against the law — no support
4. Nothing, it is better to mix — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the correctly punctuated instance of direct speech.

1. "Sit down." said the teacher. — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. "Sit down" said the teacher. — no support
3. Sit down, "said the teacher." — no support
4. "Sit down," said the teacher. — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises indirect speech?

1. It requires a new paragraph for each word — score 4
2. It is employed solely for questions — no support
3. It reports the substance of what was said without inverted commas — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. It reproduces the speaker's exact words within inverted commas — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 6: «Direct speech is the exact words someone says; it goes inside inverted commas, also called speech marks.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «exact words» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «direct speech» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

It is given that a conversation involves two speakers alternating. State the convention in respect of layout.

1. All utterances are placed in a single paragraph — no support
2. Each utterance is placed in brackets — no support
3. A colon precedes every utterance — no support
4. A new line is commenced for each change of speaker — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 35, line 3: «Every time a new person speaks, start a new line, the way a play script gives each actor their own line; a whole conversation in one block is like everyone in…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «start» (+5); the same thing acted on «new line» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with established convention concerning punctuation at the end of spoken words.

1. It is placed within the closing inverted commas — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It is placed before the opening inverted commas — no support
3. It is omitted entirely in all cases — ← Mova's choice · score 9
4. It is placed after the name of the speaker only — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 19: «Texts and chat messages often drop capitals and punctuation; school writing needs them.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «drop» (+5); the same thing acted on «capitals» (+4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/35-direct-speech-inverted-commas-and-new-speakers/