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Check your own writing for the correct use of quotation marks and colons.

Before you edit your own narrative, practice identifying sentences that use quotation marks and colons correctly. If the writer has edited the sentence successfully, drag the sentence to correct. If the writer still has editing left to do, drag the sentence to incorrect.

Iktomi shivered and whined "I wish I still had my blanket!"
correct

incorrect

The writer needs to separate the identified speaker and the spoken words with a comma.
The writer needs to separate the identified speaker and the spoken words with a comma.
"God will punish you for what you've done to me!" yelled Anne Hutchinson to the officials of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
correct

incorrect

Because the spoken words appear first in the sentence and they end in an exclamation point, no comma should separate them and the identified speaker.
Because the spoken words appear first in the sentence and they end in an exclamation point, no comma should separate them and the identified speaker.
Olaudah Equiano writes of terrible experiences: being kidnapped as a child, surviving the horrors aboard a slave ship, and being sold like a piece of cargo.
correct

incorrect

The information before the colon is a complete sentence.
The information before the colon is a complete sentence.
Captain John Smith's agenda: to encourage more English to settle in the New World.
correct

incorrect

The information before the colon cannot stand on its own as a sentence. The writer could turn it into a complete sentence by adding "was clear" after "Captain John Smith's agenda."
The information before the colon cannot stand on its own as a sentence. The writer could turn it into a complete sentence by adding "was clear" after "Captain John Smith's agenda."

Complete

 

Now, it's time to edit your own narrative and give it the polish a final draft deserves. Read through your narrative carefully, looking for any errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics. Then, focus on the two editing areas you just reviewed: punctuating dialogue and using colons to introduce lists and add explanatory information.

student reading over paper

Make any necessary changes in your draft and be sure to highlight them. When you save this document, add the word EDITED to the document's file name.