A while back, I wrote a post on the grammar of quotation marks. Now, I'm going to go over how to use those quotation marks in dialogue.
Most stories need dialogue. It's how character's interact with each other. It also creates a more pleasant spacing in the book so that the reader won't freak out over huge blocks of text (or is that just me?) The rules to dialogue are pretty simple. I may have gone over a few of these before, but I'll repeat them again anyway.
Punctuation Rules
1. Use normal punctuation when there is nothing following the sentence in quotes.
EX: "Who's is this?"
EX: "That pen is mine."
2. Use normal punctuation when the sentence following the quotation has nothing to do with the quote.
EX: "Who's is this?" She held up a book as she spoke.
In the second example, the second sentence has nothing to do with the quotation. She held up the book independently of asking the question and therefore they are two separate sentences.
3. Use normal punctuation when the quote ends a sentence.
EX: She held up the book and asked, "Who's is this?"
In this example, please note that the quotation ends in a question mark and the quotation begins with a capital 'Who.' The 'Who' is capitalized because she is speaking and it is technically the beginning of her sentence.
4. Don't capitalize the sentence extension.
Wrong: "Who's is this?" She asked as she held up a book.
Right: "Who's is this?" she asked as she held up a book.
Right: "Who's is this?" Elizabeth asked as she held up a book.
In this example, we see the correct way to write it is by not capitalizing 'she.' Obviously, capitalize 'I' and any proper noun that follows the quote in the sentence extension.
5. Use a comma instead of a period when there is a sentence extension.
Wrong: "This is my pen." I said.
Right: "This is my pen," I said.
Right: "Who's is this?" I asked.
In this example we see that a comma replaces the period. At the same time, other punctuation such as question marks and exclamation points remain intact. That is how we denote a sentence from a question or exclamation.
6. For US writers, the comma and period always go inside the quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation marks only go in the quotes if it pertains to the quote.
EX: "Who's is this?" She asked.
EX: "This is my pen," I said.
EX: The samples of beer where "great," according to judges.
EX: Did he say "we should all go to the movies"?
The first two samples we've been seeing repeatedly. Usually in dialogue you will always put punctuation in the quotes as that is what a person said. It's usually when you only take part of a quote that you will really mess with the punctuation. The third example above is such a case. In Europe and Canada (if I'm not mistaken), that comma would go outside the quotation marks as the comma was not part of the material being quoted. In the US it goes inside the quotes. Refer to your company's/editor's style guide if you have more questions on this. In the fourth example, the question mark goes outside the quote because he said a sentence, not a question. It's the overall sentence that is a question. He said, "we should all go to the movies," not, "we should all go to the movies?"
7. When you have a tagline or extension breaking up a quote, start it and end it with commas.
EX: "Hey," he said with a smile, "that looks really good."
In this example the first part follows the rules of dialogue + comma + sentence extension. Then we add more dialogue. His sentence uninterrupted is, "Hey, that looks really good." Adding the interrupting tag line we have to add the comma after it before we finish the quote. Even if the sentence did not have a comma, we would still use commas around the interrupting tagline. Although, usually it's only a good idea to interrupt a line of dialogue at a natural break in the sentence, such as a comma.
8. When someone is quoted in a line of dialogue, we use single quotes.
EX: "He said, 'we should hang out sometime,'" the teacher replied.
EX: "Have you read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' for class yet?" my friend asked.
In this example we see that the teacher is quoting someone. The actual quote is in single quotes. The end of the quote within a quote is denoted by a single quote and then we see what the teacher said ending with double quotes. In the second example we see that a title of a book is in single quotes. Titles also get the quotes treatment. When someone is saying a title, it gets the single quotes treatment.
9. If a character's dialogue spills into more than one paragraph, start each paragraph with open quotes, but don't use the end quotes until they are done speaking.
Those are the basics to the grammar of dialogue. If you have any questions or additions, please feel free to add them in the comment and I'll update this post! Feel free to check out the other resources and keep writing!
Other Great Resources
- Grammar Girl: https://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-write-dialogue.aspx
- Yahoo! Voices: https://voices.yahoo.com/rules-grammar-punctuation-dialogue-writing-4063567.html?cat=38
- About.com Fiction Writing: https://fictionwriting.about.com/od/writingexercises/qt/punctuation.htm