Which sentence uses a colon to introduce a quotation?

Which sentence uses a colon to introduce a quotation?

• A. He said, 'Meet me at noon.'
• B. He said: 'Meet me at noon.'
• C. He said 'Meet me at noon.'
• D. He said; 'Meet me at noon.'

Answer: (B)

Introducing direct speech after a reporting verb with a colon signals that what follows are the exact words spoken. In this sentence, the words inside the quotation marks are the actual speech, and the clause before it—“He said”—is the complete introductory statement. The colon clearly marks the break and prepares the reader for the quotation that follows. The other options misplace or mispunctuate the link between the tag and the quote: a comma is more common for short quotes in some styles, omitting punctuation creates a rough join between the clause and the quote, and a semicolon isn’t used to introduce direct speech. So the colon here is the correct choice because it properly introduces the quotation.