Dialogue in a Text

Dialogue Part 1

EQ: How can I use dialogue to show the thoughts, feelings, and responses of my characters?

What is dialogue?

Dialogue is the word we use to describe talking in written text.

How do we show dialogue?

• Unlike comics or graphic novels, regular text doesn't have speech bubbles to tell readers that a character is talking.

• Authors use special punctation.

• Authors use dialogue tags

John said, "I did not finish my work yet."

This is dialogue because it has two parts. It has the quotation which tells what is being said. It also tells who said it.

Multiple Choice

Which of these sentences is an example of dialogue

• Kerry quickly ran to the store.

• Michelle was so hungry because she didn't eat lunch.

• Ryan said, "School is definitely different online."

• Jake told his sister to clean up the mess.

Sometimes, dialogue looks different.

• You won't always see the word said. The author might use words like called, asked, whined, wondered, mumbled, or screamed.

• The spoken words might come at the beginning of the sentence.

Multiple Choice

Which of these is an example of dialogue?

• "We need more ice cream!" yelled Diane.

• Diane really wanted more ice cream.

• Diane and Chuck talked about getting ice cream from DQ.

• Diane didn't know if there was any more ice cream.

Don't get fooled...

• Just because you see the word, 'said' doesn't mean it's dialogue

• NonExample: John said he was hungry.

• Example: John said, "I'm hungry."

Multiple Select

Which two are NOT dialogue?

• "Do you want to play?" Jeff asked.

• "We won the game!" cheered Brianna.

• Mel asked her mom for a ride home.

• Kelly cheered so loudly when her team scored.

Task

Open a book in your house (fiction will work best). Find one example of dialogue and copy it in your spiral notebook.