1. Dialogue Mini-Lesson

2. Examples
We’re going to format and punctuate each of the following quotations together.
He loved you

3. Examples “He loved you.”
The entire sentence (including the punctuation because it’s part of the quote) is within the quotation marks.

4. Examples
He loved you she said

5. Examples “He loved you,” she said. -The dialogue is in quotation marks
-Put the comma inside the quotation marks. It separates the quote from the rest of the sentence. The period ends the sentence.

6. Examples
She said he loved you

7. Examples She said, “He loved you.”
-Comma separates the rest of the sentence
-Period goes inside the quotation marks

8. Examples
He loved you she said hoping Sue didn’t hear her

9. Examples -The dialogue is inside quotation marks.
“He loved you,” she said, hoping Sue didn’t hear her.
-The dialogue is inside quotation marks.
-The action is separated from the dialogue tag with a comma.

10. Examples
He loved you she said but you didn’t care

11. Examples “He loved you,” she said, “but you didn’t care.”
-Dialogue can be interrupted by a tag and then resume in the same sentence.

12. Examples
He loved you she asked

13. Examples “He loved you?” she asked.
If it’s part of the quote, punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks.

14. Examples
He loved you she yelled pointing a finger at Sally

15. Examples
“He loved you!” she yelled, pointing a finger at Sally.

16. Examples
Did you hear when Sally said I never loved him

17. Examples Did you hear when Sally said, "I never loved him"?
-The question mark should not go inside the closing quotation mark, because it is not part of the quotation.

18. Works Cited
Hill, Beth. “Punctuation in Dialogue”. Theeditorsblog.net. E.A. Hill, Dec. 8, Feb. 6, 2018.
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