Five rules to follow when writing dialogue

Quotation Marks

What is dialogue?

• A conversation between two or more people

Dialogue Tags

• What are they? • two words or more which attributes speech to a

particular speaker.

• Examples:• He said• She shouted• He asked

Punctuation around dialogue tags

• Use a comma NOT a period!• Note: dialogue tags are in green• Examples:

Matt said, “I want more ice cream.”

“This is my favorite class,” screamed Jamie.

HERE ARE YOUR FIVE RULES TO PUNCTUATING DIALOGUE

Rule #1

• Place quotation marks around the words that actually come out of the person’s mouth.

Examples: Matt said, “I want more ice cream.”“This is my favorite class,” said Jamie.

Rule #2• If the quotation is at the end of a

sentence, place the ending punctuation inside the end quotation mark.

Examples:My mom said, “Clean your room!”Mariah said, “I want a iPod for my

birthday.”

Rule #3

• If the quotation is not at the end of a sentence, don’t forget to properly punctuate the sentence.

Examples:“I attend Lake Shore High School,” said

John.“Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they

are, any body sets foot in this house’s yo’ company,” Calpurnia said.

Rule #4

• Each time a new person speaks, begin a new paragraph.

Example:Mariah stomped her foot and demanded, “I want an iPod for my birthday!”“Certainly, honey,” her father replied. “Anything for my angel.”

Notice the indented paragraph when the speaker switches from Mariah to her father.

Rule #5

• Capitalize the first word of what the person says, even if it occurs in the middle of a larger sentence.

Example:Mariah’s mother asked her husband, “How are we going to

afford this iPod?”