Breaks in Speech

This worksheet helps students in Grades 5, 6, and 7 strengthen dialogue writing skills by learning how punctuation reflects natural speech patterns. By rewriting sentences that include interruptions and pauses, students practice using em dashes and ellipses correctly to show cutoffs, hesitation, and trailing speech, improving realism, tone, and rhythm in narrative writing.

Learning Goals

• Dialogue Punctuation (Grades 5-7) – Use em dashes to show interruptions and ellipses to indicate pauses or unfinished thoughts.
• Natural Speech Representation – Understand how punctuation mirrors how people actually speak.
• Narrative Technique Application – Convey tone, pacing, and character emotion through dialogue mechanics.
• Editing and Revising Skills – Apply correct punctuation to improve clarity and professionalism in dialogue.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to address common dialogue punctuation challenges.
• Guided Practice with Creation – Includes both revision tasks and original sentence writing for reinforcement.
• Flexible Classroom Use – Works well for mini-lessons, writing workshops, small groups, or independent practice.
• Builds Writing Confidence – Helps students punctuate dialogue accurately and intentionally.

This printable worksheet helps students see how punctuation choices influence how dialogue sounds and feels to a reader. By practicing interruptions and pauses with em dashes and ellipses, learners gain stronger control over dialogue mechanics, tone, and character expression. It is a practical, no-prep resource for classroom and homeschool settings that strengthens narrative realism and editing skills.

This worksheet is part of our Dialogue Writing Worksheets collection.