Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly with dialogue?

Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly with dialogue?

• A. She asked, "Are you coming?"
• B. She asked "Are you coming?"
• C. She asked, Are you coming?
• D. She asked, 'Are you coming?'

Answer: (A)

Punctuation with dialogue is being tested here. When a sentence introduces spoken words with a speaker tag, place a comma after the tag and before the opening quotation marks. The spoken sentence keeps its own ending punctuation inside the quotation marks. Since the dialogue is a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks. That’s why the form with a comma after the tag and with the spoken sentence in double quotation marks is correct: She asked, "Are you coming?" The other options miss this pattern: one lacks the comma after the tag, making the sentence feel abrupt; another omits quotation marks around the spoken words; and the last uses single quotation marks, which isn’t the standard convention for dialogue in American English.

Punctuation with dialogue is being tested here. When a sentence introduces spoken words with a speaker tag, place a comma after the tag and before the opening quotation marks. The spoken sentence keeps its own ending punctuation inside the quotation marks. Since the dialogue is a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks. That’s why the form with a comma after the tag and with the spoken sentence in double quotation marks is correct: She asked, "Are you coming?"

The other options miss this pattern: one lacks the comma after the tag, making the sentence feel abrupt; another omits quotation marks around the spoken words; and the last uses single quotation marks, which isn’t the standard convention for dialogue in American English.