by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: August 04, 2008   Last Updated: April 06, 2011

Characters talk to each other in writing. This is dialogue and we know it by its punctuation. Quotation marks are needed to show where one character stops talking and another begins. Writing plays and other works for stage and screen are primarily dialogues and correct punctuation is of prime importance. Without these marks separating dialogue from commentary, a reader would get lost. But, by far, the words are the most effective means of storytelling and the punctuation only shows when the action starts and when it stops.

A simple story will show where the periods, commas and other punctuation should go:

The Story:

Jane and Mama were grocery shopping at Winn-Dixie. Truthfully Mama was shopping and Jane directed from her seat in the cart.  Jane, at age three, was in a hurry to get as much goodies as fast as Mama could lift them from the shelves.

Mama, aged forty-nine and beyond, (like Jack Benny she simply refused to admit to being sixty and possibly well beyond) was hurrying past, wanting to get the needed items and get Jane out of the way of temptation. She knew her granddaughter and her wants, and she also knew how hard it was to refuse her.

"Mama, Mama!" Jane called out excitedly as her grandmother sped past the cereal shelves. (The exclamation point is used rather than a comma to show the child's excitement.)

Since cereal was on the shopping list Mama slowed down, lifted Jane out of the cart and said: "Show Mama your favorite cereal".

Immediately Mama, wise in the ways of shopping but not with Jane, knew she should not have given the child this choice. She didn't want her to pick sugar coated cereal and, besides, with all the choices they would be in that store for hours.

"I have a good idea", Mama told Jane, "Let's gets this one and save all the others for the next time we go shopping". She knew Jane couldn't read and would not recognize the box of cheerios.

"No", shouted Jane, "that one". She was pointing to the box of cereal that was miniature peanut butter and cookie sandwiches. She had eaten it only once and she loved it.

"Just a minute," Mama said, not as calmly as before. She was pleading for time out to re-consider and to think through her options. She bent down kissed the excited, determined child on her forehead, and with a grandmotherly smile, said calmly, but somewhat impatient, “Another good idea. I will choose three boxes and you can decide."

Mama knew Jane was good at making decisions and this was how her parents managed to get

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