Which sentence uses correct quotation punctuation for dialogue?

Which sentence uses correct quotation punctuation for dialogue?

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

Answer: (B)

When writing dialogue, the spoken words go inside quotation marks, and any punctuation that belongs to those words stays inside the quotes. If you attach a speaker tag after the dialogue, treat the tag as a new sentence that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. The sentence that shows the spoken line in quotes, ends the spoken part with a question mark inside the quotes, and starts the tag as a new sentence with a capitalized subject is the clear and correct example: "Are you coming?" She asked. This arrangement keeps the quotation marks around the exact words spoken, preserves the question mark with those words, and uses proper capitalization and ending punctuation for the tag. Other forms either omit the quotation marks around the dialogue or try to join parts in ways that aren’t standard for dialogue punctuation. If the tag comes first, you’d write She asked, "Are you coming?" with a comma after the tag and before the opening quote.

When writing dialogue, the spoken words go inside quotation marks, and any punctuation that belongs to those words stays inside the quotes. If you attach a speaker tag after the dialogue, treat the tag as a new sentence that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period.

The sentence that shows the spoken line in quotes, ends the spoken part with a question mark inside the quotes, and starts the tag as a new sentence with a capitalized subject is the clear and correct example: "Are you coming?" She asked. This arrangement keeps the quotation marks around the exact words spoken, preserves the question mark with those words, and uses proper capitalization and ending punctuation for the tag.

Other forms either omit the quotation marks around the dialogue or try to join parts in ways that aren’t standard for dialogue punctuation. If the tag comes first, you’d write She asked, "Are you coming?" with a comma after the tag and before the opening quote.