The Punctuation of Dialogue
Dialogue is a tricky thing. Not only is it quite hard to make characters sound believable, the punctuation of dialogue is a headache. Should the quotation be treated like a full sentence, or is it in the same sentence as the tag? And what if the tag is in the middle? In this text I will try to answer these questions.
But first: why should you use dialogue? Why wouldn’t narrative be sufficient for your story?
Well, the saying goes that silence can tell more than a thousand words. This may be true, but all human beings talk. They talk an awful lot. And if you tell a story about humans, you will have to make them talk or else they will not seem like humans. Furthermore, good dialogue makes the characters come alive, for the writer and even more so for the reader.
Therefore, in this guide, I will explain how to punctuate dialogue. The information in this text has been acquired from all over the Internet and I would like to thank the nameless authors of these documents for introducing me to the wondrous world of English punctuation.
Case I: the quotation before the tag
A piece of dialogue usually consists of two parts: what is said (the quotation); and a tag that states who said it and in what way. For example in the next sentence:
“I wonder if I will buy Rome: Total War,” mused Ludens.
The quotation is “I wonder if I will buy Rome: Total War” and the tag is “mused Ludens”.
There are three things you can note about the example:
- The quotation is enclosed by quotation marks*. This rule applies to all quotations whether or not a tag is present, but only the exact words of the original sentence are enclosed by quotation marks. Indirect quotations (Ludens said that he wondered if he would buy Rome: Total War) have a different wording and are therefore not enclosed in quotation marks. However, when part of the indirect quotation contains the same words as the original sentence then that part can be enclosed within quotation marks. This is not obligatory, though.
- Between the quotation and the tag is a comma. If the tag follows the quotation, the comma goes within the quotation marks.
- The first word of the tag is not capitalized.
If the quotation had been a question or exclamation, the comma would have been replaced by a question or exclamation mark, but the first word of the tag would still not have been capitalized.
“Shall I buy Rome: Total War?” asked Ludens.
“I certainly shall!” he exclaimed.
(* This raises the question: which quotation marks? Single or double? This often depends on where the writer is from. In the U.S.A. double quotation marks are favoured, but U.K. writers generally use single. Double quotation marks have the advantage of being distinguishable from apostrophes, that other annoying little punctuation mark, so I recommend using them over the single ones. Some languages use other punctuation marks to indicate quotations, for example hyphen or double angled brackets, but this is not correct here. If you write in English, you should use English punctuation.)
Case II: the tag before quotation
Ludens continued, “My old computer probably cannot handle it.”
Here too there are three things you should note:
- Again, a comma separates the tag and the quotation; but if the quotation follows the tag, the comma goes outside the quotation marks.
- When a quotation is at the end of the sentence the period (or question mark or exclamation mark) goes inside the quotation marks. This rule applies to all quotations.
- The first word of the quotation is capitalized.
Case III: dialogue without a tag
Off course, if the reader already knows who uttered the sentence, and in what way, then you can skip the tag. The dialogue is then simply treated as a single sentence with quotation marks on either side:
“But perhaps I could order Rome: Total War and if my computer turns out to be too slow, I’ll simply wait with playing until I can afford the upgrade.”
Case IV: the tag within a single sentence of dialogue
“No,” said Ludens in a determined voice, “it will be best if I save for an upgrade first and then buy Rome: Total War.”
This technique is not used often since a split in a sentence reads awkwardly, but you can use it if you want to emphasize the first word or part of a sentence. The rules are as follows:
- On both sides of the tag are commas. The comma before the tag is within the quotation marks, the comma after it is outside, as you would expect from the above cases.
- The first word of the tag is not capitalized.
- The first word of the second piece of the quotation is not capitalized either.
Case V: the tag between two sentences of dialogue
“No, it will be best if I first save for an upgrade and then buy Rome: Total War,” Ludens said in a determined voice. “That way I can enjoy the graphical engine to its max.”
– or –
“No, it will be best if I first save for an upgrade and then buy Rome: Total War.” Ludens added, “That way I can enjoy the graphical engine to its max.”
As you can see here, this is actually a combination of case III with case I or case II respectively: a sentence of dialogue with a tag followed or preceded by a quotation without one. Just apply the rules for case III and II or I and give each sentence its own ending mark.
Case VI: multiple paragraphs
“However, I might try to play it on my old PC, though its specs are the same as the minimum requirements. But I did that once before and it ended in disaster. That was with Black & White. Good grief, it still pains me to think of all the trouble I went through to secure a copy of that game and get it running on my computer, and then finding out that the minimum specifications had been rather generously calculated. And all that for a game that was buggy and far less engaging than I had hoped. Why did the magazines make such a hype of it? Why was there no one who said that he was disappointed about the game? I am still angry when I think of it.
“That settles it: I am not again going to buy a game while I have only the minimum specifications. I shall suffer through all the exaggerated tales of fellow Org members and all their panegyrics on the battles, the gameplay, the cinematics and the great historical accuracy. I will save and save and save until I can afford a new computer and then I will join the RTW-fray. That’s what I shall do!”
If a character talks for long stretches, you will need to spread the dialogue over several paragraphs in order to prevent long, boring stretches of text without layout. Start a new paragraph when a character changes tone or subject, because you would expect a breath pause at these places. The guidelines are the same as for the other cases, but there are two additional rules:
- Each time you start a new paragraph, make sure there is an empty line between the two paragraphs. This applies to normal paragraphs and dialogue-paragraphs. If you want a more ‘bookish’ look you can opt for an indent instead of the white line, but this forum does not react well to double spaces at the beginning of a sentence. The forum does have tags for indentation: [INDENT] for a large indent, [2SP] for a double space, [3SP] for a triple space, but placing these is a lot of work and you need to place the closing tags ([/ INDENT], [/ 2SP] and [/ 3SP], without the spaces following the slash) at the end of the sentences as well.
- If a character has a speech that lasts several paragraphs, only the last paragraph requires a closing quotation mark. The first paragraphs lack a closing quotation mark to signify that the character is still talking.
It is recommended, but not obligatory, that you start a new paragraph whenever a new character starts speaking to avoid confusion about who is talking.
Case VII: quotations inside quotations
Ludens continued, “And when I have my new computer, I can proudly say, ‘I can play Rome: Total War with graphical detail at maximum and still get a proper frame rate.’ ”
Quotations within quotations are perfectly possible: just apply the same rules that apply to normal quotations. But do take care that for every opening quotation mark there is a closing quotation mark, and separate adjoining quotation marks with a space. It is also advisable that you use the other type of quotation marks to set off the internal quotation, as is done in the example, to prevent readers from getting lost. So, if you use double quotation marks, enclose the internal quotation with single quotation marks.
If the quotation or the ‘quotation inside the quotation’ is a question or exclamation, you should end with a question or exclamation mark.
Ludens continued, “When I have my new computer, shall I be able to say, ‘I can play Rome: Total War with graphical detail at maximum and still get a proper frame rate?’ ”
Ludens continued, “And when I have my new computer, I can proudly say, ‘I can play Rome: Total War with graphical detail at maximum, or can’t I?’ ”
A quotation inside a quotation inside a quotation is also possible, but I recommend against trying that. It is not grammatically wrong; it’s just hard to read.
Conclusion
This concludes my dialogue-primer. As you can see, quotations need to be treated as a sentence inside a sentence: the first word of the quotation is capitalized even if it is not the first word of the sentence, but the quotation does not have its own ending mark (apart from the closing quotation mark). If you remember this basic rule, everything in this guide should make sense.
I hope you found this text helpful and I wish you luck on any future stories you may embark on.
Ludens
Addendum
It was only after I wrote this guide that I became aware of the fact that there are two views on how to punctuate quotations. My guide takes the conventional view. However, there is another way to punctuate dialogue, called the logical view by its proponents. The logical view holds that a quotation should not contain any punctuation marks that were not present in the original sentence. Take for example this sentence:
Rome: Total War has already won many Game-of-the-Month awards and it will win many Game-of-the-Year awards this winter.
If I take the first part of this sentence and turn it into a quotation, the conventional views holds that is should be punctuated like this:
“Rome: Total War,” Ludens wrote, “has already won many Game-of-the-Month awards.”
However, when following the logical view, the sentence looks like this:
“Rome: Total War”, Ludens wrote, “has already won many Game-of-the-Month awards”.
Spot the two differences:
- The comma closing the first part of the quotation is outside the quotation marks, since it did not appear in the original sentence.
- The period is equally outside the quotation marks, because the quotation lacks the last part of the original sentence. Had I quoted the sentence in full however, the period would have been inside the quotation marks:
“Rome: Total War”, Ludens wrote, “has already won many Game-of-the-Month awards and it will win many Game-of-the-Year awards this winter.”
The same holds true for capitalisation. If the sentence does not begin with a capital letter, the quotation shouldn’t either. Also, the logical view does not hold with commas without a function between the quotation and the tag. In the above example, the commas around “Ludens wrote” are bracketing commas and as such should be included in the sentence, but in simple sentences with just a quotation and a tag, they should not used.
“At least, I think it will win many Game-of-the-Year awards” Ludens added.
He continued “It might just be that Half-Life 2 wins those, though.”
There is no grammatical reason to add a comma between the quotation and the tag. So why did I write that you should do it in the first place? Because it is the convention. The logical view has got logic on its side, but the conventional view is the one most publishers, and almost everyone else, uses. With the exception of a few linguists, nobody uses the logical view and that’s why I wasn’t aware of it when I wrote this guide. Therefore, with this addendum I want to rectify this situation and allow writers to choose for themselves which side they take.
But whichever side you choose, I wish you luck in your further career as writer.
Ludens
16 Oktober 2004
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