Three (and only three) Ways to Quote

1. The SAYS Type

Mrs. Kirk said, "You had better study your vocabulary words!"
Note the speaker, the speaker's verb, the speaker's breath (the comma), and the speaker's capitalized sentence.

2. The COLON Type

Mrs. Kirk gave our class some excellent advice: "Proofread and run spell check!"
You stand and make a complete statement and then throw your hands out in a big "ta-da." Your two hands are like the two dots of the colon. Then you present your quote.

3. The FLOWING Type

My teacher insisted that we do "slow reading with oral paraphrasing" in order to improve our comprehension.
Note how one quoted phrase has been inserted into my sentence, and if I remove the quotation marks, my sentence still looks normal.

Special Note: The SAYS type can be converted into a FLOWING type by inserting the word "that" --

Mrs. Kirk said that "you had better study your vocabulary words."
See? No comma or capitalization. More flowing.