Help me with this grammar question please

[lorisparkle]

My knowledge of grammar is pretty poor and I am a bit confused by this question........

Tick the option which is punctuated correctly.

"It's time to leave Ian." said Lesley.

"It's time, to leave Ian." said Lesley.

"It's, time to leave Ian." said Lesley.

"It's time to leave, Ian." said Lesley.

My confusion is that I think there should be a comma and not a full stop after Ian. I have had a look on the all knowing google, but can not find a definite answer.

Many thanks

said Lesley. cannot stand alone as a sentence.

sirfred, I actually done whole course myself before let my ds practice. They actually talk about differences between US and British grammar, and I didn't find anything confusing for my ds. My ds is excellent at grammar, maybe that's why. I wouldn't recommend it to less confident child then.

his one is rather funny too:
"An English professor wrote on the board: A woman without her man is nothing. The class was then asked to punctuate the sentence. All the men wrote: 'A woman, without her man, is nothing.' All the women wrote: 'A woman: without her, man is nothing

No. No, they really didn't and that is a stupid internet story.

Ah good irvineoneohone, grammar is always tricky with internet resources with so much of it convention rather than anything else.

Grammar is such a important thing, yet so boring for children to learn, unless the child is obsessed with logic/ rules/ puzzles like my ds.
I can't find anything that's as fun as Khan grammar course anywhere. My ds loves it so much he watched same videos again and again. The person(David) who teaches there is fantastic, I just wanted to share it with MN, but just ignore me.

*such an. How [blushed] to make mistakes on grammar thread!

The full stop is definitely correct.

I think the full stop is incorrect, it should be a comma. I have never seen speech written like this with a full stop before the said. If it is correct then in what circumstances would a comma be used instead of a full stop?

I guess people get confused about the full stop because other sentence-ending punctuation would be allowed in the inverted commas.
"It's time to leave, Ian!" exclaimed Lesley.
"Is it time to leave, Ian?" asked Lesley.
But yes agree the full stop is wrong.

Full stop definitely incorrect and should be a comma.

It's so bloody basic. Before said Bob you need a comma, question mark or exclamation mark. Never a full stop. It's really easy KS2 stuff. Shocked there are teachers on here who don't know this. And yes, I am right. What on earth is wrong that means that teachers get this wrong?

I also think it should be a comma before the speech marks because 'said Lesley' is a supporting clause and is part of the same sentence. Very surprised to see people saying otherwise.

en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctua
tion/punctuation-in-direct-speech

en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/punctuation-in-direct-speech

Thank you, Misstic. That makes it quite clear that it should be a comma, the full stop is used when there is no supporting clause, or when the supporting clause is at the beginning.

Misstic, can't do your link but Oxford definitely shows commas.

I think these are the sort of rules that my generation learned automatically; very little casual printed material was available.

In fact, other than a school newspaper, I'm struggling to think what there might have been that was amateur.

So we were only ever exposed to correct grammar and punctuation.

Now of course, anyone can publish anything, and the grammar isn't always of a decent standard.

Concerning to read so many posts which believe the fourth option is correct.

Oh hang on, there was always The Guardian.

Relevant examples from Misstic's link:

‘They think it’s a more respectable job,’ said Jo.

‘You’re right,’ he said.

Misstic - you say it should be a full stop and then post a link which says it shouldn't be?

I think there is something fundamentally wrong that 11 year olds are tested on something that creates discussion among teachers/knowledgeable people.
If you have weak teacher/parents/ no MN access, you are screwed!

Depending on context either 1 or 4. I'm inclined to say 4 though.

It's probably a misprint. None correct.

Or a trick question?

Irvine, even in the 80s when we were taught barely any grammar, we knew this one well before 11. It's not contentious or difficult, that's why people are so shocked at there being any discussion. It's the grammatical equivalent of a teacher confusing there and their. Hopefully they were just having a blind spot moment and will quickly correct it when pointed out.