TYPICAL ERROR Chelsea enquired ‘How many people will be there?’
‘There should be 10 of us’ replied Dylan.
CORRECTION Chelsea enquired, ‘How many people will be there?’
‘There should be 10 of us,’ replied Dylan.
EXPLANATION If we wish to record exactly what someone has said, we indicate that we are quoting them by using inverted commas. We also use a comma to separate the actual words spoken from the rest of the sentence.
In the typical error above, that means placing a comma after enquired and one before replied. In the latter case, the convention that has developed is to turn the full stop at the end of the direct speech into a comma. However, if the direct speech ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, they remain and no comma is required.