Rules for Writing Dialogue



Name: ____________________________ Date: ________________ Block: __________

Rules for Writing Dialogue

1. Begin all quotations with a capital letter.

|Example: |

|"We want some ice cream," said Ashley. |

2. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and tells something, place a comma after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.

|Example: |

|"The world is a very big place with seven continents and four oceans," said the teacher.      |

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3. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and tells something, place the comma after the person who spoke, before the opening quotation mark.

|Example: |

|Chad explained, "We live on the continent of North America." |

4. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and asks something, place the question mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.

|Example: |

|"Is North America a large continent?" Jane asked. |

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5. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and asks something, place the question mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.

|Example: |

|Mr. Smith responded, "Why don't you look it up?" |

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6. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and shows strong emotion, place the exclamation mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark. 

| Example: |

|"I know, I know!" James exclaimed. |

7. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and shows strong emotion, place the exclamation mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.

|Example: |

|Mary interrupted excitedly, "I know that North America is the third largest continent!" |

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8. A sentence in a dialogue separated by the person who spoke is called a split quotation. Begin the first part of a split quotation with a capital letter, and end with a comma. Begin the second part of a split quotation with a lower case letter. Enclose both parts of the split quotation with quotation marks.

|Example: |

|"Ladies and gentlemen," said the teacher, "tomorrow we will use the computer and learn more about continents." |

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9. Remember to begin a new paragraph and indent when a different person speaks in the dialogue.

|Example: |

|"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Harry. |

|"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced..." |

|"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what he wrote on the wall!” |

10. An indirect quotation is a paraphrase of someone’s words, and therefore does not need quotation marks.

|Example: |

|George Washington Carver believed that the world takes notice when your everyday actions are done extraordinarily. |

| |

|The above indirect quotation is a paraphrase, or summary, of Carver’s exact words, or quotation (which you’ll note, does use |

|quotation marks): |

|In the words of George Washington Carver, “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the |

|attention of the world.” |

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