1. Guidelines for Formatting Dialogue

2. Why use dialogue? To further the plot
To give insight into your characters

3. How to use Quotation Marks
Always use them in pairs.
Quotation marks follow punctuation marks.
“My dog likes to bury her bones in the backyard.”

4. How to Use Commas
Use a comma to separate the tag line (he said / she muttered) from the quotation.
Jenna noted, “The library closes early on Thursday and Friday evenings.”
“Perhaps we should meet after school on Wednesday,” suggested Mark.
“We should have enough time,” Donna asserted, “to finish planning the project in study hall.”

5. Capitalization in Quotations
The first word in a quotation is always capitalized.
The principal announced, “All English homerooms will have delayed lunch today.”

6. Capitalization in Quotations
If a tag line interrupts a quotation, the second part of the quotation is not capitalized unless it begins with “I” or a proper noun.
“We wanted to skateboard on Saturday,” remarked my brother, “but it rained all afternoon.”

7. Using paragraphs with Dialogue
Start a new paragraph every time the speaker changes.

8. Recap: Why use Dialogue?
Two reasons to use dialogue are:

9. Recap: How to use Dialogue
How to use quotation marks
How to use commas
When to capitalize
When to start a new paragraph

10. Advice on Writing DialogueDo
Don’t