WHAT IS DIALOGUE AND HOW DO YOU PUNCTUATE IT?

“Dialogue is so exciting!” replied half of the class.

“I can’t wait to read this power point,” remarked the other half of the class.

DIALOGUE SHOWS WHEN PEOPLE ARE TALKING

"I will do my best," he said, "to show you how to punctuate dialogue correctly."

RULES Punctuation goes inside the quotes.

“I love cheese!”

Always capitalize the beginning of a quote no matter where it is in the sentence.

John yelled, “Cheese is good!”

TAGLINES Don’t capitalize a quote if it is interrupted by a

tag line.

“I am,” John exclaimed, “so angry right now!”

Commas go after or before the tag lines.

John yelled, “Cheese is good!”

“Cheese is good,” yelled John.

TAGLINES Notice the tag line is not capitalized.

“Cheese is amazing,” yelled John.

Notice the tag line is still not capitalized, even with a question mark or an exclamation point.

“Cheese is amazing!” yelled John.

“Why is cheese so amazing?” questioned John.

PARAGRAPHS Whenever someone else talks, start a new paragraph.

“I’m sick of reading about sentences with cheese,” said Cathy.

“I agree,” remarked Angela.“I’m so tired of it.”“Me too.”“It needs to stop.”“It so needs to stop.”“We should stop talking too.”“I agree.”

PARAGRAPHS If you don’t start a new paragraph, it looks like this.

“I’m sick of reading about sentences with cheese,” said Cathy. “I agree,” remarked Angela. I’m so tired of it.”“Me too.” “It needs to stop.” “It so needs to stop.” “We should stop talking too.” “I agree.”

PERFECTLY PUNCTUATED DIALOGUE

“Hey! Johnson, get in the game!” the coach yelled. Johnson replied, “Okay, Coach. Uh, what position do I

play?”“What?” the coach questioned. “I don’t know where to go.”“We went,” the coach stammered, “over this a million

times in practice!”“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”“Go sit back down then!” the coach screamed,

exasperated. “Hey! Nelson, get over here.”