1. Five rules to follow when writing dialogue
Quotation Marks
Five rules to follow
when writing dialogue

2. What is dialogue?
A conversation between two or more people

3. Dialogue Tags What are they? Examples:
two words or more which attributes speech to a particular speaker.
Examples:
He said
She shouted
He asked

4. Punctuation around dialogue tags
Use a comma NOT a period!
Note: dialogue tags are in green
Examples:
Matt said, “I want more ice cream.”
“This is my favorite class,” screamed Jamie.

5. Here are your five rules to punctuating Dialogue

6. Rule #1
Place quotation marks around the words that actually come out of the person’s mouth.
Examples:
Matt said, “I want more ice cream.”
“This is my favorite class,” said Jamie.

7. Rule #2
If the quotation is at the end of a sentence, place the ending punctuation inside the end quotation mark.
Examples:
My mom said, “Clean your room!”
Mariah said, “I want an iPod for my birthday.”

8. Rule #3
If the quotation is not at the end of a sentence, don’t forget to properly punctuate the sentence.
Examples:
“I attend Lake Shore High School,” said John.
“Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, any body sets foot in this house’s yo’ company,” Calpurnia said.

9. Rule #4 Each time a new person speaks, begin a new paragraph.
Example:
Mariah stomped her foot and demanded, “I want an iPod for my birthday!”
“Certainly, honey,” her father replied. “Anything for my angel.”
“Thanks!”
Notice the indented paragraph when the speaker switches from Mariah to her father.

10. Rule #5
Capitalize the first word of what the person says, even if it occurs in the middle of a larger sentence.
Example:
Mariah’s mother asked her husband, “How are we going to afford this iPod?”