Writing Tips
Punctuating Dialogue
ā§
āø āThis is a sentence.ā
āø āThis is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,ā she said.
āø āThis,ā he said, āis a sentence split by a dialogue tag.ā
āø āThis is a sentence,ā she said. āThis is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.ā
āø āThis is a sentence followed by an action.ā He stood. āThey are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.ā
āø She said, āUse a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.ā
āø āUse a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,ā he said.
āUnless there is a question mark?ā she asked.
āOr an exclamation point!ā he answered. āThe dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because itās not truly the end of the sentence.ā
āø āPeriods and commas should be inside closing quotations.ā
āø āHey!ā she shouted. āSometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.ā
However, if itās not dialogue exclamation points can also be āoutsideā!
āø āDoes this apply to question marks too?ā he asked.
If itās not dialogue, can question marks be āoutsideā? (Yes, they can.)
āø āThis applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically expressāā
āInterruptionā ā but there are situations dashes may be outside.
āø āYouāll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses donāt have a comma after them eitherā¦ā she said.
āø āMy teacher said, āUse single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.āā
āø āUse paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,ā he said.
āThe readers will know itās someone else speaking.ā
āø āIf itās the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.
āThis shows itās the same character continuing to speak.ā
This is so useful.
