The Grammar of Dialogue

The Grammar of Dialogue

Introduction

Good dialogue is key in writing good stories. The words the characters say are, of course, important. You want them to match the characters’ personalities and situations. Good dialogue brings out the characters in ways that action and thought just can’t. Good dialogue brings a story to life.

Good dialogue formatting makes the writer look professional and knowledgeable. Good dialogue formatting makes the story more clear for the readers. Like any other aspect of English grammar, it takes time and practice for it to become second nature, and even pros make mistakes.

There are different views on proper dialogue formatting. This view has been developed over fifteen or more years of reading and writing, through much study and practice and discussion. It may not be one hundred percent perfect, but it is the truth as I see it at this time and I’m always willing to be corrected and learn something new.

All examples in the following are in italics.

Part One: Quotation Marks and Quotes Within Quotes

The primary quotation marks in American English are the " " symbols. They typically come in pairs. Quotation marks are used to show direct quotes.

"I had fun today," Steve said.

Quotation marks are not used when you paraphrase. If it is not a direct quote, you don't need quotation marks.

Steve said that he had fun today.

The secondary quotation marks in American English are the ' ' symbols. They also come in pairs. These are used mostly for quotes within quotes.

"Jim said, 'I hated every minute of it,' " Mary said.

Since Jim literally said "I hated every minute of it," we use quotation marks around that phrase. We use the secondary quotation marks instead of the primary quotation marks (" ") to prevent confusion.

Also to prevent confusion, I insert a space between primary and secondary quotes when they bump up against each other. '" or "' can look confusing, especially in some fonts. This isn't necessary, but it isn't wrong, either.

It's more likely that you'll need secondary quotation marks because a character is naming something specific that requires quotes, like a poem, short story, or article.

"I read 'The Raven' yesterday," Lou said.

Part Two: Speech Tags

Speech tags, which go by many other names, are the verbs used to show that someone is speaking. The most common speech tag is "said." I'll be sticking to the past-tense forms of these verbs, just because past-tense is most common in writing. You may use them in their other forms, if you so desire.

Other speech tags: asked, replied, answered, shouted, whispered, mumbled, exclaimed, retorted, murmured, muttered

Speech tags are used to show who is speaking. When you use a speech tag, you use a comma to connect the quote to the rest of the sentence.

Steve said, "I had fun today."
Said Steve, "I had fun today."
"I had fun today," said Steve.
"I had fun today," Steve said.

(Note that the speech tag is only capitalized when it starts the sentence. If it doesn't start the sentence, it's in the middle of the sentence, and we don't Randomly capitalize words in The middle of sentences. It looks wrong, doesn't it?)

The exceptions to the comma rule are the question mark and the exclamation point when the speech tag comes after the quotation.

"Did you have fun?" Steve asked.
"Did you have fun?" asked Steve.
"I had fun today!" shouted Steve.
"I had fun today!" Steve shouted.

(Note that even though they follow an "end of sentence" type of punctuation, these speech tags are still not capitalized. They're still in the middle of a sentence.)

If you put your speech tag part of the sentence before the quote when the quote has an exclamation point or question mark, you still need a comma.

Steve asked, "Did you have fun?"
Asked Steve, "Did you have fun?"
Shouted Steve, "I had fun today!"
Steve shouted, "I had fun today!"

When you do not have a speech tag, you do not use a comma.

"It really was fun." Steve nodded.
Steve nodded. "It really was fun."

Why is "nodded" not a speech tag? Well, the motion of nodding does not induce speech. If you saw "nodded" in some sentence on its own, you wouldn't say, "Hey, where's the quote?" like you would with the word "said." It doesn't imply speech. If the verb doesn't imply speech, you don't use a comma.

Here's another illustration of a verb that's not a speech tag used next to a quote.

Steve collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. "I had fun today."

We know that it is Steve talking because the Steve was performing the action in the previous sentence and there's no paragraph break. The quotation marks, of course, imply speech.

You can combine non-speech actions with speech tags. Then you would use a comma, because there would be a speech tag in the sentence.

"I had fun today," Steve said as he collapsed onto the couch.
"I had fun today," Steve said, collapsing onto the couch.

Using verbs that aren't speech tags during dialogue can add some action and spice to the dialogue itself. Just remember: No speech tag, no comma.

Part Three: Punctuation

The punctuation of a quote always goes inside the quotation mark. Whether the quote ends with a comma, a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark, it goes inside the closing quotation mark. Always. Take a look at the previous examples to observe the proper use of punctuation.

Part Four: Paragraph Breaks

When a new person says something, you make a new paragraph. This makes it especially clear that multiple people are talking, and it also makes it easier to see who specifically is saying what.

"I had fun today," Steve said.
"Jim said, 'I hated every minute of it,' " Mary said.

If a new person hasn't started talking yet, you do not make a new paragraph.

"I can understand why," Steve said. "I mean, we were at the amusement park from the moment it opened to the moment it closed. He ate so much that he puked. That's not fun. That's disgusting."

However, if one character is giving a very long speech, you can make paragraph breaks. There are long speeches sometimes in that deserve multiple paragraphs. Just don't close the quote at the end of the first paragraph, and reiterate that the new paragraph is still a quote by putting a quotation mark at the beginning of the second.

"Blah," Steve said. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

The lack of a quotation mark at the end of the first paragraph implies that the character hasn't finished talking yet. The new quotation mark at the beginning of the second paragraph reiterates that it is, indeed, a quote. The quotation mark at the end of the second paragraph signifies the end of the quote.

You can go on for more than two paragraphs if you so desire. Just remember to hold off on the close quote until the quote is actually closed.

Conclusion

There is a lot more to dialogue styling than just these points. These are the basics, the building blocks. Play around with your words to bring your characters to life. Just remember:

Quotation marks are for direct quotations.
Secondary quotation marks are for quotes within quotes.
If there's a speech tag, there should be a comma. (Or a question mark or exclamation point if appropriate.)
No speech tag, no comma.
New speaker, new paragraph.
Same speaker, new paragraph? Don't close the quote until the quote is actually closed.

I think that sums it up nicely. Good luck with your dialogue!