Writing Dialogue Rules: Spoken words are enclosed in quotation marks. Capitalize the first word of spoken sentences. Place punctuation (period, comma, question mark, or exclamation point) inside the quotation marks. When one person is speaking, keep all sentences in one set of quotation marks.

Dialogue Tags Dialogue tags – the words used to announce a line of dialogue (EX: he said, she said) Rules: Separate the quote from the tag with a comma. Tags can come before the quote, after a quote, or in the middle of a quote.

Examples: Before: He said, “Life isn’t fair.” After: “Life isn’t fair,” he said. *Do not capitalize tag if it comes after the quote (unless it is a proper noun) *If the quote ends in a question mark or exclamation point, no comma is necessary. “Life isn’t fair!” he shouted.

Middle: “Life,” he said, “isn’t fair.” *Do not capitalize first word after the tag if the quote is all one sentence. “Life isn’t fair,” he said. “It never will be.” *If a tag interrupts two sentences of the same person’s speech, place a period after the tag and capitalize the new sentence.

Writing Dialogue … with more than one speaker When writing dialogue, begin a new paragraph each time you change speakers. Rule : “What are you going to be for Halloween?” Jeff asked as he and his friend Tim were waiting for the bell to ring. “I was thinking of a pirate or a Viking,” replied Tim. “What are you going to be?” “I’m going to be a vampire. I hear the girls like vampires these days.” “Dude, they also like ballet; why don’t you go as a ballerina?” The conversation ended with Jeff punching Tim on the arm.