Select the correctly punctuated sentences:

"I am certain said the witness that the truck was stopped when the car hit it."

The correctly punctuated sentence is:

"I am certain," said the witness, "that the truck was stopped when the car hit it."

Here's the explanation for each option:

1. "certain, said the witness, that" – This option lacks necessary quotation marks to indicate the exact words spoken by the witness. It's unclear where the direct speech begins and ends.

2. "certain," said the witness, that" – This option correctly places the quotation mark after "certain," indicating the end of the first part of the spoken words. The comma after "witness" is correctly used to separate the speech tag. However, it incorrectly omits the opening quotation mark for the second part of the spoken words.

3. "certain," said the witness," that" – This is the correct option. The quotation marks are correctly placed around "I am certain" and "that the truck was stopped when the car hit it." The comma after "witness" correctly separates the speech tag. This punctuation clearly indicates that the witness first says "I am certain," followed by additional speech.

4. "certain said the witness that" – Similar to the first option, this lacks quotation marks entirely, making it unclear what the exact spoken words are.