Punctuating Dialogue

Punctuating Dialogue Never make a mistake again

Use a comma between dialogue and tagline • “Fred, I want you to take that new truck back to the dealership,” Mary snarled, “right now!” • “No way will you get me to,” Fred paused, “return that truck.” Only the words spoken are surrounded by quotation marks.

Tag lines with “said” • You can use said, but your writing style improves if you can occasionally use other versions of “said” that emphasize an emotion.

ALWAYS keep commas and periods inside the quotation marks • “ I do not know,” interrupted Albert. • Albert interrupted, “I do not know.” Which one is correct? • The teacher growled, “Everyone needs to line up at the door” • The teacher growled, “Everyone needs to line up at the door.”

An uninterrupted speech needs quotation marks only at the beginning and the end. • “My mother was right. I never should have married you. You only think of yourself, and I’m always the one who has to suffer.” • “Oh cry me a river.” ” I’m the one who came out on the losing end of this marriage!” “Why didn’t you listen to your mother?” Which one is correct?

Tag interrupting a sentence • "That is," Wesley said, "that neither you nor me is her boy...“

Start a new indented paragraph each time the speaker changes. • “You can be so cruel some times!” Mary wailed. • “Oh I suppose you’ll go crying to your mother now,” Fred sighed. • “At least she understands me,” sobbed Mary.

When only two people are talking you do not have to keep using their names. Use them every few lines to keep it straight. • “I understand how you feel, alright?” • “You do?” gasped Mary. • “Aw, you know I do.” • “And do you care about me?” • “Of course I do,” Jacob nodded. • “So you’ll take the truck back?” • “Over my dead body!”

Exclamations and Questions • An exclamation point or question mark is placed inside the quotation marks when it punctuates the quotation. It is placed outside when it punctuates the main sentence. • For example: • I almost fell over when he asked, “That won’t be a problem for you, will it?” • Did the teacher really say, “Finish by tomorrow”?

Exclamations and Questions • When using exclamations and questions in your dialogue be sure to properly punctuate the words following the marks. If the sentence continues and the following words are not proper nouns then you DO NOT capitalize the next word. • For example: • “Did you hear Mr. Marcoux?” asked Steve. • “Watch out!” warned John. • “No homework tonight!” Mrs. Tomao asserted.

Quote within a quote • “Have you read ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ yet?” he inquired.

Ellipses and em dashes • Use ellipses … to show faltering, fragmented speech • Use em dashes – to portray abrupt, broken off dialogue

Ping Pong vs. Descriptive Dialogue “Did you see that?” Tony asked excitedly. “I sure did,” Janet replied quickly. “I have never seen anything like that before,” Tony firmly said. “Did you see that?” Tony yelled as he slammed on the brakes of his Mercury. Janet was nearly thrown into the windshield, but Tony’s strong hand against her sleeve held her back. The bright lights from the night sky lit up the car like a neon sign. “How could I miss it?” she stuttered. Both of them stared out the window toward the hillside.

Punctuating Dialogue