Question

Which sentence is written correctly?
“The most important ingredient for a successful garden,” she told us, “Is good soil.” “The most important ingredient for a successful garden,” she told us “is good soil.” “The most important ingredient for a successful garden,” she told us, “is good soil.” “The most important ingredient for a successful garden” she told us, “is good soil.”

Answer 1

“The most important ingredient for a successful garden,” she told us, “is good soil.”

Answer 2

“The most important ingredient for a successful garden,” she told us, “is good soil.”

The main difference in most of the options is the placement of the commas. The commas need to be before and after the dialogue tag. The first comma needs to be before the dialogue tag. This comma must be inside the quotation marks because it shows where the dialogue pauses before the tag. There also needs to be a comma before the rest of the dialogue. It should be outside of the quotation marks since it is not part of the actual dialogue.