![]() Remember that the dialogue always starts with a capital letter even though it is technically in the middle of the sentence. A colon can also be used but is less common. If the dialogue tag comes before the dialogue, a comma comes after the tag. ‘We are going with him,’ Sarah said quickly, holding the door open. ‘We are going with him,’ she said quickly. ![]() The dialogue tag starts with a lowercase letter, unless it is a proper noun. ![]() When a dialogue tag is used after the dialogue, a comma comes before the closing quotation mark. In a simple dialogue sentence, the full stop comes before the closing quotation mark. Exceptions are for double quotation marks in newspapers and children’s books, and often on web pages. There are many rules, but the golden rule is: dialogue always starts with a capital letter regardless of where it comes in the sentence.Īnother thing to consider is that New Zealand English style prefers single quotation marks for dialogue. Action beats also help pace the conversation by creating pauses. ‘He jumped first,’ she said quietly, looking up at her mum.Ī note about action beats: an action beat can be useful for breaking up long passages of dialogue, to create a picture of setting and actions in the reader’s mind or to give information about the character and their emotions, especially when their actions contradict their words. This indicates that the action is separate from the dialogue.Ī dialogue tag and an action beat can be combined, but be careful not to use this format too often, as it can become tedious to the reader. Note the full stop before the closing quotation mark. ‘My cat is sick.’ Sarah grabbed her phone and showed him a picture of Whiskers. These should be changed into action beats or changed altogether.Īn action beat is used to describe what the character is doing, but it is not part of the dialogue. Writers sometimes try to use dialogue tags such as he smiled, or she grimaced, which, if you think about it, is impossible to do. Also be careful to make sure it is possible to do what is actually described. Tags like grumbled, muttered, and quipped can distract a reader, though they can be used if necessary. Here are some examples of direct dialogue with a dialogue tag.Ī note about dialogue tags: said is the most commonly used dialogue tag, and also the most unobtrusive. ‘He ate the pizza and didn’t leave any for me.’ĭirect dialogue can use dialogue tags and action beats.ĭialogue tags show who said it and how they said it. There are no quotation marks, as it is not actually said.ĭirect dialogue shows that someone is speaking. Indirect dialogue often uses the word that to indicate what was said. Indirect dialogue is the same as reported speech – one person reports what someone else said. Direct dialogue is more complicated, but also more interesting. Indirect dialogue is easy, as it has no specific punctuation. Get dialogue wrong, and the story line can be confusing, or the characters may sound wooden or unbelievable.ĭialogue can be direct or indirect. The rules are used to make it clear to the reader who is speaking and how they are saying it. At least for now.ĭialogue is a conversation between characters in a novel. It’s better to stick to the more common punctuation. There are other, less common styles of punctuating dialogue, which some writers (such as James Joyce and Cormac McCarthy) are famous for, but as these are not used very often at all, it will likely confuse your readers. Here are some basic punctuation rules for dialogue for New Zealand English. To help you find that perfect synonym to inject action and emotion into your dialogue, here are over 270 other words for said: Neutral/multi-purpose wordsįor this infographic, we've narrowed down the 270 most essential dialogue words for you to know! Simply enter your email below to get it in your inbox within minutes.Although some grammar rules are made to be broken or have grey areas, with dialogue it’s important to get the commas, quotation marks, full stops and capital letters right for the reader to make sense of the dialogue.
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