reported speech

[Tinker28]

Please help.
1. ' Thank you for the gift; says Anna.
2. ' Thank you for the gift; said Anna.

My answer says Anna ( simple present ) but I get confused of the responsive speech rules.
"said Anna" should be use if it refers to the past right?

Thank you for the help

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, said means that the utterance took place in the past.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please help me with the following.

1. 'Thank you for the gift', says Anna.
2. 'Thank you for the gift', said Anna.

My answer is "says Anna" (simple present) but I get confused of about the responsive speech rules.
"Said Anna" should be used if it refers to the past, right?

Thank you for the help. Don't thank us before we help you. Instead, add a "Thanks" icon to any response you find helpful.

Please note my corrections to your punctuation and spacing above.

Don't put a space after opening quotation marks.
Don't put a space before closing quotation marks.
Don't put a space after an opening bracket.
Don't put a space before a closing bracket.

 

[Tinker28]

Thank you for the corrections, it helps a lot. But which tense should be use? says? or said?
'Thank you for the gift; says Anna.
'Thank you for the gift; said Anna.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you for the corrections; it helps they help a lot. But However, which tense should be used - "says" or "said"?

'Thank you for the gift', says Anna.
'Thank you for the gift', said Anna.

Please look carefully at my corrections above, particularly to the punctuation after "gift".

Both sentences are grammatically correct and possible. It depends on context. You haven't given us any context.