Which of the following sentences has been punctuated correctly?
2019
Which of the following sentences has been punctuated correctly?
- A.
Renu said, "Give me a pen, a pencil and a book."
- B.
Renu said Give me a pen, a pencil and a book.
- C.
Renu said give me a pen a pencil and a book.
- D.
Renu said "Give me a pen a pencil and a book."
Attempted by 8 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
When a sentence reports someone’s exact spoken words (direct speech), the reporting clause (for example, "Renu said") is separated from the quotation by a comma, the spoken words are enclosed in quotation marks, and any items listed within the quotation are separated by commas; the sentence’s terminal punctuation is placed inside the closing quotation mark.
Application
The fully punctuated sentence places a comma after the reporting clause, opens and closes the quotation with quotation marks, separates the three listed items — a pen, a pencil, and a book — with commas, and keeps the closing period inside the quotation mark.
Cross-check
Contrasting the other sentences confirms this:
The version without any comma or quotation marks drops both the introductory comma and the quotation marks.
The version with no punctuation at all drops the introductory comma, the quotation marks, and the list commas.
The version with quotation marks but no introductory comma adds quotation marks but still omits the introductory comma and the list commas.
Only the fully punctuated version satisfies every rule, making it the correctly punctuated sentence.