Virginia HESI Level 4 Practice Test

The idea being tested is how to punctuate direct speech when the speaker’s tag comes before the quotation. When the reporting verb precedes the spoken words, you place a comma after the verb to separate it from the quote, and you keep the exact spoken words inside quotation marks, with the sentence-ending punctuation inside the quotes. The nurse announced, "The patient will be discharged today." follows this pattern, making the connection between the speaker and what was said clear and the punctuation tidy. The other options miss or alter this standard setup: a missing comma after the verb can blur the division between tag and quote; a colon after the verb is less typical for a brief single sentence quotation; and placing the quote first changes the natural flow of attribution.