![]() Choose a style and stick with it throughout your story. Notice no spaces between dots, but there’s a single space before and after the three dots. Notice there’s a space between each dot and a space before and after the three dots. yes! Ellipses are used for faltering speech or incomplete thoughts. If you need to pour yourself another steaming cup of coffee, now might be a great time.ĭo we really have to go into the ellipsis? Well. Closing quotation marks are only used at the end of the final paragraph. Okay, what happens when dialogue is long and takes two paragraphs or more? Opening quotation marks are used at the beginning of each paragraph. Jack said, “Come fetch a pail of water with me.”Įven though the last two lines have no dialogue tags, we know who is speaking. How do you delineate the two so the reader is not confused, wondering who is speaking? When the speaker changes, so does the paragraph. This next tip veers a bit off the track, but let’s say your story has two characters. “I need a break.”ĭid you notice the exclamation point was moved? When an exclamation point is the end punctuation before a dialogue tag, no comma is used, and “said” is not capitalized. Let’s make one small change to see what happens. Here’s what you do if the dialogue tag interrupts two complete sentences. I can barely keep those straight myself, and I doubt your stories would get that complicated, but if they do, bravo to you! ![]() I won’t confuse you any further with punctuation concerning quotes, inside quotes, inside quotes. Notice the comma placement after “say.” There is no space between the end single and double quotation marks. Single quotation marks enclose the exact words Jill said. Jack said, “I heard Jill say, ‘Commas are ridiculous.’” What? Did your horse just buck you off? Get back in the saddle! In other words, let’s say Jack is talking and quotes what Jill has said. This is because if you read the first half of the dialogue and skip over to the last half, they make a full sentence. “Would you,” said Jack, “like to fetch a pail of water with me?” Let’s go a step further to see what happens when dialogue is interrupted somewhere in the middle by a dialogue tag. “Fetch a pail of water with me,” said Jack. If the dialogue was declarative, a comma would come before the end quotation mark. If you only get these rules right, you’re still in the race. Is your horse lagging behind? Hang on to the reins you’re doing just fine. No comma is used after the question mark, and “said” is not capitalized. “Would you like to fetch a pail of water with me?” said Jack. What if the dialogue tag (he said, she said) is at the end of the sentence? ![]() The first word of the dialogue is capitalized. A comma is placed after “said” with a space between it and the quotation mark. Jack said, “Would you like to fetch a pail of water with me?”ĭouble quotation marks are used. Let’s start with the quotation mark and its usage in dialogue. This might not be as complicated as you think. Take a deep breath and exhale any fears lurking inside your mind. To simplify matters, this article will chase after the American version. There are two styles of punctuation in dialogue, American and British. Merriam Webster’s Pocket Guide to Punctuation, Hodges’ Harbrace College Handbook, the Secretary’s Guide to Modern English Usage, and The Chicago Manual of Style are in a neat, stacked pile next to me. Hang on to your quotation marks this may be a bumpy ride.ĭentist! Did I scare you? The same could be said for punctuation in dialogue! To some writers, endeavoring to use correct punctuation is like pulling teeth with nothing to lessen the pain.
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