Posted: April 22nd, 2020

WRC essay

Riverside Community College Name: ______________________________________
Writing and Reading Center Date: ______________________________________
Direct Learning Activity PM.7
Writing Conventions: Quotation Marks
Purpose: Upon completion of this activity, students will
understand how to use quotation marks and be able to
make corrections in errors of use.
This DLA should take approximately 30 to 45 minutes to complete.
Before you begin: To complete this DLA, you will need to view a video. If you need headphones,
you may check them out at the WRC’s reception desk using your student ID card.
Directions: Click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0-8lQH_5Q to view a video
entitled “Quotation Marks” by Easy English Grammar. Then below, list the four rules for using quotation
marks and punctuating within and around quotation marks:
Rule #1:
Rule #2:
Rule #3:
Rule #4:
Once you have listed the rules, look below where you will find a passage that is in need of editing to
correct the use of quotation marks and punctuation used with quotation marks. The passage comes
from Developmental Exercises to Accompany A Writer’s Reference 6
th edition.
Louis Braille entered the National Institute for Blind Youths in Paris when he was ten. At
twelve, he was already experimenting with a system or raised letters known as “night-writing”,
which was used by the military. Institute teachers decided that night-writing was impractical,
EQ: How are quotation marks used
and how should quotations be
punctuated?
Riverside Community College Name: ______________________________________
Writing and Reading Center Date: ______________________________________
Direct Learning Activity PM.7
but Louis became proficient at it. When Charles Barbier, inventor of the system, visited the
institute, Louis told him “Your symbols are too large and too complicated. Impressed, Barbier
encouraged him and said that “since Louis was blind himself, he might discover the magic key
that had eluded his teachers.”
Louis Braille wanted a system that would work for everything from a textbook on
science to a poem like Heinrich Heine’s Loreley. At fifteen, he had worked out his own system
of six dots arranged in various patterns. “Read to me,” he said to one of his teachers, and I will
take down your words.” As the teacher read, Louis punched his paper and then read the
passage back without error. The teacher exclaimed, “Remarkable”! Government officials, not
impressed enough to take any action, said simply that Braille should be encouraged. “You didn’t
say “encouraged,” did you?” asked Braille. He wanted official acceptance, not simply
encouragement. “The system has proved itself,” said Louis. We have been using it for five years
now.”
For most people, the word Braille itself now means simply a system of reading and
writing used by blind people; for blind people, it means freedom and independence. Braille
himself died before his system was recognized by the institute. The plaque on the house of his
birth, however, records the world’s recognition of his work with these words: He opened the
doors of knowledge to all those who cannot see.
When you are all done, review your answers with an instructor or tutor in the WRC. Be sure you
can answer the EQ (essential question) above. Have that person sign and date this sheet.
Instructor Signature: ______________________________ Date: ____________________