Q UOTED S PEECH Phrases that show who said something that is quoted are commonly set o with commas as well as quotation marks: Yes the teacher said The child whispered, ‘What time is it ” Indeed Smith opined, there is reason for that ” Such commas always appear within the quotes if the speaker follows the quotation marks (unlike British usage. Longer block quotations can be introduced by a comma even though no quotation marks appear around the quoted speech Kennedy delivered these remarks, Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country…. He then went onto say other things.” The comma before the word remarks in the last example could also be a colon or could even be omitted altogether. See also quotation.