Today’s Journal Write Have you ever been in trouble with your parents or teachers Create a dialogue (fiction or non-fiction) between yourself and another person that starts, “Ellen (your name), I told you never to……” Use your knowledge of the conventions for dialogue to help you Continue writing until you are asked to stop and then we will share

Dialogue Rules to Live By

What is Dialogue? When people speak in a piece of writing whether real or imaginary The direct speech is set off by quotation marks Example: “Hi!”

Why Use Dialogue? Makes writing more interesting Reveals more information about the characters and situation

Rules to Live By #1 Put quotation marks around the words the speaker is saying EX: “Please sit down.”

Rules to Live By #2 Capitalize the first word of a quotation EX: “It’s Friday!”

Rules to Live By #3 The tag is the part of the sentence that tells who is talking. Try to avoid using “said” in your tag. BORING EX: “No homework tonight,” said Ms. Phillips. BETTER EX: “No homework tonight,” announced Ms. Phillips.

Other ways to say “said” Exclaimed Inquired Called Suggested Confessed Replied Asked Announced Screamed Wondered Laughed Responded Answered Whispered And many more…

Rules to Live By #4 Use a comma to separate the quotation from the words that tell who is speaking. This is called a dialogue tag. The comma goes BEFORE the quotation mark. EX: Nathan confessed, “I don’t know what to do.” EX: “I like math too,” agreed Matt.

Rules to Live By #5 When a quotation is a question or an exclamation, use a ! Or a ? Instead of a comma. EX: “I love school!” boasted Cody. EX: Haley asked, “May I use the restroom?”

Rules to Live By #6 When writing a conversation between more than one person, start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

Example Conversation “I just love grade seven so much!” exclaimed Marques. Jeff responded, “Me too! It’s the best!” “And isn’t Ms. Phillips the nicest and best teacher in the world?” “Definitely!”

Rules to Live By #7 When the dialogue tag is in the middle of a one sentence quotation, use a comma before the tag inside the quotation marks and a comma after the tag There is no capital letter to continue the interrupted sentence

Example Conversation “Well,” he advised John, “it’s possible.”

Rules to Live By #8 If the dialogue tag is in between two sentences, use a comma before the dialogue tag inside the quotation marks, use a period after the tag and a capital letter to begin a new sentence

Example Conversation “Don’t be silly,” replied Ted. “Do you think a tent flap will keep out a curious bear?”

Now That You Are An Expert Glue the list of words to use instead of said to your writing notebook Using the list of words to use instead of ‘said’ and your ‘Dialogue Rules’, edit and revise your dialogue writing piece. Hand in the edited version for tomorrow