![]() “Time is a construct,” Sana stated seriously, “to help us structure our lives, nothing more.“Where will we end up,” he asked, “if we continue down this path?”. ![]() "I don't love you anymore," she said, "but you can rest assured I'll never forget you.".The second part of the quote is not capitalized, because it is a continuation of the first part. You can also place the tag in the middle of one sentence, which gets broken up by commas. “How long have we been hiking?” he asked.The most common dialogue tag is the word ‘said. "But, you can rest assured I'll never forget you." Dialogue tags are phrases that are used to break up, precede or follow written dialogue to convey which character is speaking, making it easier for the reader to follow the conversation. When writing dialogue, you dont always have to use a dialogue tag like 'said' or 'replied.' You can mix up the language you use for your dialogue tags to make them sound more natural. The quote continues after that and begins with a capital letter because it’s the beginning of a new sentence. However, a full stop would then be needed at the end: Where is everyone. ![]() Flipping the sentence to lead with the dialogue makes the comma redundant due to the question mark. ![]() The word said is the most common dialogue tag but there are other words that can be used as well. A comma should always be used directly after ‘asked’ and before the speech begins. She held out her hand and said, Nice to meet you. The first sentence typically ends with a comma (unless it’s a question or exclamation), because the speaker is mentioned at the end of that sentence. In the example below, the dialogue tag is split from its dialogue which makes it hard to follow: Nice to meet you, she said, holding out her hand. There are two ways to do this.įirst, the tag might be placed in between two sentences. These dialogue tags draw attention to themselves, and this can add or detract from the story. Joyce Carol Oates, who punctuated always, placed all marks before the ellipsis. I’ve read somewhere that unless the tone of the dialogue doesn’t come through in the actual text, you can use (or rather, are encouraged to use) dialogue tags other than ‘said.’ I’d say use them if you need the line to stand out. A comma indicates that the quoted material is seen as syntactically independent from the surrounding text. That is, it is optional grammatically, but in most contexts readers expect it to follow said and various other dialogue tags. Anne Tyler, who used it only sometimes, placed the period before, but the question mark or exclamation point after the ellipsis. The use of a comma to introduce a quotation is generally a matter of tradition rather than strict logic. Then when you edit, you can remove as many as possible. In my recent search, I found two authors who used punctuation with a terminal ellipsis when they used no dialogue tag. For example, the author might insert an action or add a detail about what's going on in a character's mind. The simplest way to use dialogue tags is to write said for every piece of dialogue in your first draft. "Photo of the body."Ĥ) "That reminds me," Bert said, "I'm carrying a new model of the M-Gun the size of a pistol.Sometimes, dialogue gets broken up by a tag. "Mostly, we break up fights and lock up rowdy drunks until they sober up."ģ) "Have a look," he said. So, if anyone would be willing to give opinions, I'd appreciate it.ġ) "Sorry, Chief," the constable said, "but there's a man from Phillips Atomics says he needs to speak with you."Ģ) "I've never investigated a murder," McCreedy continued. 'I probably love you. Going through the 1st draft I am writing, I noticed that I am not always consistent in using dialogue tags (and adjacent punctuation and and capitalization) when in between two parts of a line of actual dialogue. If it is clear who is speaking, you do not need a dialog tag. ![]()
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