Transcript September 24, 2007 - Richfield Public Schools

Punctuating dialogue
1) Begin a new paragraph every time the
speaker changes.
“Do you remember when you fell up the stairs
yesterday?” Kerry smirked when she said this. She
was always reminding Nori of her blunders, which
was easy because there were so many.
“Yes!” laughed Nori, remembering.
2) Place quotations at the beginning and end of
the speaker’s exact words.
Ex. “Nora, it’s time for you to learn some origami,”
Mrs. Muro said.
3) When the dialogue tag interrupts a quoted
sentence, begin the second part of the quotation
with a lower case letter.
Ex. “ Maybe,” Nori asked, “you can teach me how to
make a paper crane?”
What is a “dialogue tag”?
Examples:
.
4) If the second part of the divided quotation is
a new sentence, it should begin with a capital
letter.
Ex. “Do your homework,” Nori’s mother said.
“Grandmother might teach you later.”
5) When a direct quotation comes at the
beginning of a sentence, use a comma, question
mark, or exclamation point—but not a
semicolon—to separate it from the dialogue tag
that follows.
Ex. “Of course I will,“ Mrs. Muro answered kindly.
OR ”Of course I will not!” Mrs. Muro answered
rudely.
6) Commas and periods always go BEFORE the
quotation marks.
Ex. “While you wash the dishes, I’ll get my papers,”
Grandma said.
7) When the speaker’s words are a question or
an exclamation, place the question mark or
exclamation point BEFORE the closing quotation
marks. Remember: No comma added!
Place the period after the dialogue tag that
follows.
Ex. “Do you remember how you cried when your
paper got wet?”
“Yes!” laughed Nori, remembering.
8) When the quotation itself isn’t a question or
an exclamation, place the ? or ! AFTER the
quotation marks.
Ex. Who said, “I have but one life to give for my
country”?
“Please stop saying, “It’s all your fault”!