Question

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

“The whole thing is made out of gelatin” they exclaimed
“The whole thing is made out of gelatin!” they exclaimed.
“The whole thing is made out of gelatin!,” they exclaimed.
The whole thing is made out of gelatin! they exclaimed.

Answer 1

B: "The whole thing is made out of gelatin!" they exclaimed.

Step-by-step explanation:

The sentence in option B is punctuated correctly because what they exclaimed is in quotation marks and ends with an exclamation mark, which, in this case is taking the place of a comma. In a normal quotation, a comma should separate the words inside the quotation marks (including the comma) and the rest of the sentence.

Answer 2

The correct answer should be the following sentence: “The whole thing is made out of gelatin!” they exclaimed.

Direct quotes should be enclosed in quotation marks. The context clue "exclaimed" gives us a hint that the sentence is in exclamatory.