Question

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?



Zora decided “that she would practice one hour each day in order to learn the Beethoven piece on time.”


Zora decided that she would practice one hour each day in order to learn the Beethoven piece on time.


Zora decided, “She would practice one hour each day in order to learn the Beethoven piece on time.”

Answer 1

The second sentence is punctuated correctly.

Explanation: This is indirect speech (a reported decision), so no quotation marks are needed: "Zora decided that she would practice one hour each day..." If you were quoting her exact words, you'd use quotation marks and a comma: Zora said, "I will practice one hour each day."