Punctuating Dialogue

Dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters in a story.

Punctuation helps clarify the meaning of the dialogue and indicates how it should be read.

Common punctuation marks include quotation marks, commas, question marks, and exclamation points.

You start a dialogue with a quotation mark before the spoken words.

A dialogue tag is a phrase that attributes the dialogue to a specific character, such as 'said' or 'asked'.

You place the question mark inside the quotation marks if the spoken words are a question.

You place the exclamation point inside the quotation marks if the spoken words are an exclamation.

Use a dash to indicate the interruption, followed by the closing quotation marks.

Start a new paragraph for each new speaker's dialogue.

Use a comma before the dialogue tag if the dialogue is a statement.