literature

Punctuating Dialogue

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Literature Text

For non-native English speakers and young readers: If you hover over a blue word, you'll see its definition.


Punctuating dialogue can be surprisingly difficult, even for people whose first language is English. It's one of the things that you see all the time in books, but you pay little attention to, and all your English teachers assume that you already know it. Sure, if you read a lot, you pick up the basics, but even then it can be difficult to unconsciously absorb all the rules. (Until 2012, I was making heinous mistakes with commas vs. periods. I'm still weeding out errors from my novel.)

Anyhow, for the sake of my fellow spirits who bemoan the lack of proper dialogue education, I've researched the subject and compiled this little guide. I hope that it answers your questions, and that it isn't too dull.

Note: I use American English. Other English-speaking countries may have slightly different rules.



Anatomy of Dialogue


I'm going to be using these terms throughout the guide, so I want to make sure that you understand them.

Dialogue—something that a person says. Note that it has the letters u and e at the end; the spelling dialog is for computers, which have dialog boxes.

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work," the author said.

Quotation marks—the marks (") that indicate the beginning and ending of dialogue. To type them, hold down SHIFT and press the apostrophe key ('), which is next to the semicolon key.

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work," the author said.

Dialogue tag—the optional part of the sentence (outside of the quotation marks) that (1) identifies who is speaking and (2) states that this person is speaking.

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work," the author said.

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work," the author said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Em dash (also called m dash)—This is a long dash (named after the capital letter M, because the two symbols have the same width). I've been copying and pasting it (—) after each new term. You probably won't use it often, unless you're Emily Dickinson or Ray Bradbury, but I'll be talking about rules governing their use in dialogue (such as when a speaker is interrupted).

Paragraph—a block of text. Paragraphs are separated from each other by line breaks. In print, they are customarily separated by only one line break, and the first line is indented. Online, they are often separated by two line breaks with no identation.

This little block of bold text is a paragraph. It begins with the first sentence and ends with the last sentence. It carries on for however many lines I want it to last, and then I hit ENTER once or twice to create a new paragraph. This is the last sentence in the paragraph.

This sentence begins a new paragraph. Note how it starts in a new line, even if there would have been room for it in the last line. Paragraphs break up text to make it more readable.



Paragraph Breaks


A long time ago, rules regarding paragraph breaks were a little less strict. You could mash five pieces of dialogue into one paragraph, and if it looked decent, no one would question you. Today, readers have different expectations, and understanding where to put paragraph breaks is important for your credibility as a writer.

Let's write some dialogue without paragraph breaks and see how beautiful it is.

Thunder crashed outside, and Rose brought her fingers down hard on the piano keys. Thunderstorms were perfect for dramatic music! Rose's stepmom entered. "Raindrop Prelude?" she asked. Rose smiled. "That's the one." "Someone's at the door for you." Who would go outside in a thunderstorm like this? "Let me guess: a short kid." "Actually, that tall young man I've seen hanging around here." Rose blinked. "Oh, him? Well, I hope you let him in! He must be drenched."


So how far did you make it before you skipped to the end? If you read the whole thing, I applaud you (and wonder how much you understood, since that was quite a feat).

Without proper paragraph breaks, wading through a simple scene becomes a nightmare, and readers will end up slogging backwards through the mess to figure out who said what (or giving up and putting down the book).

Most modern writers will tell you this rule: Start a new paragraph every time there is a new speaker. This is generally true. However, if you state a character's action (like "Rose smiled") and then write what the character says, it's best to put those in the same paragraph.

Start a new paragraph every time you begin describing the thoughts, words, or actions of a different character.

Caveat: If the character is doing something minor, such as Mrs. Waters is in "Rose stood up and her stepmom put a hand on her shoulder," then you don't need a new paragraph for that. There's a bit of a grey zone there. Use to taste.

Now I'm going to rewrite the passage following this rule.

Thunder crashed outside, and Rose brought her fingers down hard on the piano keys. Thunderstorms were perfect for dramatic music!

Rose's stepmom entered. We moved from Rose's thoughts to the stepmom's actions, so we needed a paragraph break. "Raindrop Prelude?" she asked.

Rose smiled. "That's the one."

"Someone's at the door for you."

Since the next sentence is Rose's thoughts, it's in a new paragraph. Who would go outside in a thunderstorm like this? "Let me guess: a short kid."

"Actually, that tall young man I've seen hanging around here."

Rose blinked. "Oh, him? Well, I hope you let him in! He must be drenched."


See how much less confusing that was? When there's one paragraph per person, reading dialogue is easy.



Commas, Periods, and Dialogue Tags


Do you remember dialogue tags? They're the "she said"/"he yelled"/"she whispered" things. Yes, those.

Dialogue tags can't stand alone. Like small children in need of adult supervision, they need to latch onto another sentence. Therefore, they become part of a sentence within the dialogue. Dialogue tags always become part of the nearest sentence (but only one sentence).

For example, this is all one sentence:

Luna said, "I am saying an example sentence."


This is also one sentence:

"I am saying an example sentence," she said.


This is two sentences:

Luna added, "I love examples! They solidify potentially difficult concepts."


Here, the dialogue tag became part of the sentence I love examples! The second sentence (They solidify...) stood all by itself.

So now I'll explain what this means in terms of comma placement.

Dialogue Tag in Front


If a dialogue tag comes right before the dialogue, it will become part of the nearest sentence: the first sentence of dialogue. Therefore, you need a comma after the dialogue tag.

Rose said, "I wonder why he went out in the rain."

Rose turned to her mother and asked, "Did it seem like there was something urgent?"


Both these examples are only one sentence each.

Dialogue Tag Afterwards


If there is a dialogue tag right after the dialogue, the dialogue tag will again become part of the nearest sentence, which is now the last sentence of dialogue.

However, only periods need to be changed into commas. If you have an exclamation point or question mark at the end of the dialogue, don't change it into a comma.

"Throw me a rope, please," he called.

"I read all the Faulkner I could find," the scholar said.

No periods to replace:

"Now it's time for Hemingway!" she exclaimed.


Dialogue Tag in the Middle of a Sentence


The dialogue tag will become part of the sentence that it interrupts, so it will be surrounded by commas.

"I would have waited up for him," Anisha explained, "but I had to drive to work the next day!"


Notice how the letter after the dialogue tag is lowercase. (In this case, it's the letter B.) It's all the same sentence!

"I don't want to wait until the end of the sentence," the dialogue tag said, "because I can just interrupt now!"


Dialogue Tag in Between Sentences


If there is dialogue, and the dialogue tag comes after the end of a sentence, and the dialogue resumes after the dialogue tag, then the dialogue tag will attach itself to the last sentence before itself.

So if the last sentence before the dialogue tag ends in a period, replace it with a comma. Then the dialogue tag ends with a period.

"Try being patient, dialogue tag," Luna said. "Unless you're in Dickens, the end of the sentence is usually not far away."

"I think you have a problem," the dialogue tag replied. "You are talking to a dialogue tag!"


As always, exclamation points and question marks are never replaced by commas, even if they are in the middle of a sentence.

"Dialogue tag? Why are you taking me so seriously?" Luna asked. "This is only an example!"


No Dialogue Tags


When there are no dialogue tags, nothing needs to become part of the same sentence as the dialogue. Everything is its own sentence, so no comma replacement is necessary.

Jamal raised his glass. "To the newlyweds." He grinned and clinked his glass against his wife's glass.

Jamal held the car door open for his wife. "Do you remember what it felt like when we were that young?" He watched a dreamy smile spread over her face.



Talking About Other People's Words


Dialogue Within Dialogue


If Person A is retelling exactly what Person B said, put Person B's words in single quotation marks ('). Person B's words are still dialogue, so punctuate them as you would punctuate regular dialogue.

Adam folded his hands behind his back. "She told me, 'People like you are a miracle in the right circumstances.' What do you think she meant by that?"

Sara laughed. "Then Tai said, 'Well, did they give you the authority to do that?' and Ryan just said, 'Uh...' and stood there. It was so hilarious!"


These rules also hold true for other things that would ordinarily be in quotation marks.

Luna said, "For example, titles of short stories like 'What Lies Would You Tell' are put in quotation marks."


Note:
If Person A is rephrasing Person B's words, then use no quotation marks for Person B's words, because they are not exact.

Sara laughed. "Tai asked him if they gave him the authority do do that, and Ryan just stood there and stared. It was hilarious!"


Asking or Exclaiming about Dialogue


Usually, punctuation (at least, in America) is placed inside quotation marks. However, if you have a question mark or exclamation point that does not belong within the dialogue, then place that mark outside the quotation marks.

What do you think she meant when she said "People like you are a miracle in the right circumstances"?

I can't believe he said "maybe next year"!


This also holds true for dialogue within dialogue.

Marco sighed. "I can't believe he said 'maybe next year'!"



Other Notable Rules


Interior Dialogue


If you're relating a person's exact thoughts, follow all the above punctuation rules. However, instead of using quotation marks to indicate where the thoughts begin and end, place the thoughts in italics.

I never dreamed I'd win the state spelling bee! Diamond thought.

Adrian drummed his fingers on the car door as he waited for the light to turn green. Something's wrong with Maria. Usually she doesn't avoid me at lunch or avert her eyes whenever I walk by, he thought. I wonder if she heard the news about Jaden.


Interrupted Dialogue


If a person's words are interrupted, use an em dash where the sentence is cut off.

Juanito called, "Hey, wait for m—"

The scientist sang, "With my freeze ray, I will stop—"


If the person continues speaking after being interrupted, use an em dash where the speaker resumes.

Kiara surveyed the group. "Great job, everyone! I've rarely seen new recruits do so well. Now we're going to discuss—"

"What do we do if our weapons don't work?" Samuel blurted.

"—what to do in case of broken equipment." Kiara raised her eyebrows and Samuel blushed.


Multiple paragraphs of Dialogue


Sometimes dialogue just gets really long, and you want to break a monologue into multiple paragraphs to make it easier on your readers' eyes.

If the speaker is still speaking in the next paragraph, don't use quotation marks at the end of the paragraph, because the dialogue isn't ending. Use quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph of continuing dialogue (so that the reader knows that this next paragraph is still dialogue).

"Let me get you up to speed," Cornelia said. "Ella and Damien are married, and Ella is six months pregnant. Damien's kind of a strange guy, and he inherited this huge mansion from his parents.

"Shortly after she realized she was pregnant, she figured out that Damien was a vampire. He was furious when she told him, and he broke a wine glass and ran off for a week. I stayed with her because I was worried that he'd abuse her. When he came back, he apologized for being so immature and promised not to do it again.

"He used to lose control when he was angry, but he's gotten better now that he's with Ella. I'm hoping that he'll either stay that way or get help, because I can't help but be a little afraid for Ella and the baby."

Conrad ran a hand through his hair. "Man, and I thought I had problems. It sounds like we're side characters in a distasteful pulp romance novel!"

Cornelia shook her head. "It sure feels like it."



Stylistic Notes


Multiple Lines of Dialogue


If one character wants to talk for a long paragraph, it's a good idea to mention the character's name early on (preferably before or after the first sentence). This way, readers quickly know who's talking.

"I had a hard time working things out," Lenny said. "I mean, Aunt Lu's death was a painful time for all of us. And yet I... I just didn't want people to know that I was struggling, too, I guess. As one of the oldest kids, I was supposed to be one of the strongest... because I had to look after the younger kids too, you know. I was so worried about all that I guess I was a little too rough on you and the girls. I shouldn't have done that. I'm really sorry."


If we didn't know that it was Lenny (and not, say, his older brother or his twin brother) speaking, we would have spent several sentences trying to figure out his identity instead of absorbing the full impact of his confession.

Avoiding Confusion Between 3 or More Speakers


When three or more people are having a conversation, you always need to identify the speaker in each paragraph.

Imagine if we had dialogue like this:

"This is my boyfriend Nacho," Rosario said. "Nacho, this is Jason, the foreign exchange student from the United States."

"Nice to meet you," Nacho said.

Jason grinned. "Nice to meet you too. Your name is Nacho? How'd you get an awesome name like that?"

"It's short for Ignacio."


Who said that? It could have been Nacho, or maybe Rosario spoke for him. Without some form of identification, we'll never know.

Avoiding Confusion Between 2 Speakers


When only two people are speaking, you don't need to identify the speaker for each line. For example, even when I stop mentioning who is speaking, it's easy to tell:

Drew watched the young woman walk by out of the corner of his eye. "So who's that blonde?"

Lebron glanced in her direction. "Oh, her? That's Jessica. She works in the corner office. Not too long ago, she was just an accountant. She's been climbing really quickly."

"She's a hottie."

"Don't even think about it, man. She's getting married this summer!"


Some writers, trying to keep their work flowing, will not mention the speakers' names for long sections of text. Their work becomes a stream of dialogue and nothing else, like this:

Lataya checked her watch. "We've got to get to downtown Chicago in twenty minutes."

Meg opened her car door and climbed in. "My car's got plenty of gas. We can make it."

"Legally make it?" Lataya asked, climbing into the passenger seat.

"I won't speed this time. I promise."

"Some promise."

"Hey, just because I broke it a few times before doesn't mean I'll break it this time."

"I just hope you don't get us ticketed again."

"So, anyhow, how did the interview go? Do you think you'll get in?"

"I hope so."

"Do you think it went well?"

"Yeah, the interviewer was really nice and easy to talk to, and I didn't mess up... or, you know, wear my shoes on the wrong feet..."

"Oh, come on, you nut! That was in college! Stop bringing it up!"

"Well, it was pretty memorable..."

"I had to put on my new shoes in the dark, okay? In the dark!"

"Well, I'll stop bringing it up if you stop telling all my new friends and acquaintances about the ketchup incident. If I want them to know, I'll tell them myself. Otherwise, what they don't know can't hurt them."

"All right, then. Deal?"

"Deal."


So how long did you go before you started wondering who was saying what? Was it Lataya or Meg who went to an interview with her shoes on the wrong feet? Which one of them tells the other's friends about the ketchup incident?

If you go on for too many lines without dropping in someone's name, readers will peg you as an amateur. Then they'll miss important things, like the fact that Lataya enjoys teasing Meg, and sometimes Meg tells embarrassing stories about Lataya. If you find yourself going more than four lines without mentioning names, you might want to remind your readers who is speaking, or some of them may start retracing their steps.



Dialogue Tags: Thoughts on When to Use, What to Use


Many writers (with whom I almost completely agree) believe that the only function of dialogue tags is to identify the speaker. This perspective lends itself to these opinions:

Redundancies


If you describe a character's action in that line, a dialogue tag is unnecessary. Let's take this offending sentence from the beginning of my resource. (I used it to clarify the definition of a dialogue tag.)

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work," the author said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.


Dialogue tags are meant to tell us who is speaking. Yet we also have an action in this line, and the action can identify the speaker without help. Our dialogue tag is now redundant. And you know what writers do with redundant things: we delete them.

"I love Ernest Hemingway's work." The author tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.


See how much smoother that is? We've conveyed the same idea with less words (which, if some of you don't know, is a very good thing to do). It's not as professional as Hemingway, but hey, it's a little closer.

Dazzling Dialogue Tags


I have news that may come as a disappointment to some amateurs: your dialogue tag should not be more interesting than the dialogue.

When I was young, I read a picture book full of interesting dialogue tags. It didn't rely on the standards, like said and asked. Whenever someone said something, they didn't merely say it; they enthused, admonished, droned, and lamented every step of the way.

Pretty soon, I was beginning to notice that the story's main energy stemmed not from the plot, characters, or dialogue, but from the dialogue tags. The dialogue tags shone in my eyes with the brilliance of the sun, so much that the actual dialogue (and everything else) became dull in comparison. To this day, the gaudily colorful dialogue tags are all that I can remember from the book. The plot? I have no idea.

Think of dialogue tags as a clarifying light, not a dazzling light. They say who is speaking, and then they get out of the way. The emotion should be contained in the dialogue, not in its tag. It's the same "showing versus telling" thing you've heard many times before.

Of course, since characters don't always speak in flowery prose, not all your emotion needs to be crammed into the dialogue itself. Actions can also impart plenty of emotion.

"Do that again and you'll be lucky to escape alive!" Kendryn growled.

"Do that again and you'll be lucky to escape alive!" Kendryn slammed her fist into the wall so hard that Athryl swore it shook.


Cramming all that explosiveness into one dialogue tag would be impossible. Instead, her actions tell us plenty about how dangerous she is when she's angry.

So should we swear off descriptive dialogue tags?


Purists insist that the word said is the only word you ever need. I disagree. Personally, I find that using only the word said over and over can be tiresome.

Imagine that I wanted to show a group of friends taking a moment to relax.

"What do you think that cloud looks like?" Alan said.

"A boat?" Rob said.

"I see a butterfly," Eve said.

"Maybe a hippo?" Bert said.

"It looks kind of like someone riding a horse..." Leanne said.

"Yeah, like a horse racer or something," Alan said.


Eventually, the profusion of saids gets to the point where the reader can't help but notice the pattern. This can lead to eyebrow-raising (instead of uninterrupted, engrossed reading). If I want to avoid dwelling on this part, then adding a bunch of actions would only slow it down.

That's why I like to mix in some other bland verbs.

"What do you think that cloud looks like?" Alan asked.

"A boat?" Rob replied.

"I see a butterfly," Eve said.

Bert scratched his ear. "Maybe a hippo?"

"It looks kind of like someone riding a horse..." Leanne said.

"Yeah, like a horse racer or something," Alan agreed.


Words like asked, replied, and agreed are generic enough that we hardly notice them. Now there are no distractions from the dialogue: no extraordinarily shiny dialogue tags (like keened) and no repetitive patterns that catch the reader's eye. We can move on to what happens next, having wasted very little time describing a mellow moment in the friends' lives.

When else can semi-descriptive dialogue tags be useful?


Do we have to banish words like whispered and called from our vocabulary? I mean, those lists of alternate words were made for something, weren't they?

Yes, they were. (And no, I'm not thinking only of amateurs.) In my opinion, some of these words can be useful...
1. To give quick descriptions of a character's feelings
2. To clarify tone

Sometimes we don't need to tell our readers much about how our characters are feeling because the details are irrelevant to the plot.

Keisha half-smiled. "Hey, Stace. Is it okay if I stay over for a while? My sister is wailing and moaning about how she and Sam broke up and you can't escape from the noise anywhere in the house."


We could describe the sister's unhappiness (maybe she's heaving sobs and slamming every door she opens), but Keisha isn't affected much by it, so she is not going to go into great detail. And if the main point is that Keisha arrives at Stacy's house, why bother?

Other times, a character's tone of voice can be unclear. Maybe the piece of dialogue is of minor importance, and we want to portray it without dwelling on it. Then words such as muttered can be useful.

Say the Mendez family is hosting a cocktail party.

"Rosa, the Smitts just arrived! Joe is hoping to talk to you!" Ricardo called.

"I'm coming, Papá!" came the faint reply.


Here, the word called tells us more than the word said could. It quickly establishes the distance between Rosa and the other characters, helping the reader visualize where everyone is. It also helps us understand Rosa and Ricardo as people: clearly Rosa does not share her father's interest in standing at the door and greeting guests.

Other times, if readers might be confused about the speaker's tone, replacements for the word said can give them a hint without wasting time. Imagine that our protagonist needs to ask for something from a woman behind a desk and we want to give a vague sense of her personality first.

"That's all for now." She squinted at a man in a fancy suit and dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

The man stood. "See you later," he mumbled.


If we used the word said instead of mumbled, we would have had no idea how the man felt unless we described his actions. In this case, the man is not important, so we don't need to write a paragraph about how he shuffles to the door and stares at the ground while he walks. It's irrelevant. If we want to say something quickly, mumbles and whispers will do the trick.


In Conclusion


While rules rarely change between professionals, preferences often do. There is not always one "correct" way of doing things. You might not always follow my advice, and sometimes your way may be better than mine! That's the beauty of writing—there is no single superior style. Each one of us learns the basics (such as where to place commas near your dialogue tag) and branches off into an individual style from there.

I hope that you've gained a better understanding of the rules, guidelines, facts, and controversies surrounding dialogue. (I certainly have!) Now it's up to you to use that knowledge.

Happy writing.

I've finally finished a Writer's Guide, and more are on their way! :iconfangirlmomentplz: I feel that I have matured a lot as a writer since I last posted one of these. Don't worry, though—while before I was a weirdo who tells bad jokes; I'm now a weirdo who tells more sophisticated bad jokes.

Anyhow.

The punctuation rules in this resource are correct to the extent of my knowledge and research. If I have any errors, then please let me know. I will research and fix them.

We can't forget our favorite part: stamps!


There are no Luna's Links this time around, since the material would be pretty redundant. :)

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Vaughanp's avatar

It is very good, your tutorial. I am bilingual (Spanish and English) and sometimes, I stumble thinking of a dialogue and I do it in one language or another and it is true that there are writing problems, when due attention is not paid. I understand that many people who write, do not take much into account the rules of spelling and readers are left in most cases, without fully understanding what they are reading. Grateful. This tutorial will be of great help to me at the time of writing.