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How to punctuate dialogue when writing

The first thing to remember when you are punctuating dialogue (the speaking part of the sentence) is that there are two main parts to the sentence you'll be working with.

First is the actual dialogue-> "This is far from over" (we'll get to the punctuation shortly)
Second is the character or person doing the speaking-> Mozart

Let's see the different ways we can write this dialogue. Keep a close eye on the punctuation and capitalization - these are the two main sources of difficulty for many students (and teachers).

The most common way to write this is with the dialogue and what is called a tag line. A tag line is just a short piece of the sentence that tells who is speaking the dialogue, and how they are speaking it. Here's an example:

"This is far from over," said Mozart.
or
"This is far from over!" said Mozart.
or
Mozart asked angrily, "Is this almost over?"

The words "said Mozart" and "Mozart said angrily" are the tag lines of the above sentences because they tell the who and the how of our dialogue. Let's look at some important points we learn from the punctuation and capitalization in these two sentences.

1. Dialogue is capitalized if it starts a new complete thought, like example 3. (Is this almost over?) Tag lines that follow dialogue are treated as a continuation of the sentence, which means they are not capitalized. See examples 1 or 2. (said Mozart)
Remember, there will never be two periods in a sentence- instead you use a comma to separate the dialogue from the tag line, like in the first sentence.

2. Punctuation is always placed inside the quotations. Almost. There are some exceptions which we will get to later, but for the most common uses of dialogue you can consider this a rule. See how the question mark and exclamation point fall inside the quotation marks in examples 2 and 3?

3. Tag lines and dialogue must be separated by some kind of pause. In the above sentences it was a comma. You will separate a sentence with a comma if the tagline and dialogue are part of the same thought. What do I mean by "part of the same thought"? Here's an example:

"This is far from over." We could all tell that Mozart was angry.
or
"This is far from over," said Mozart. "I want you all to leave me alone!"
or
"This is far from over," said Mozart, "and someday you will pay for your sins!"

Notice how in example 1 the second half is a complete and separate thought. In this case, the dialogue is not connected to this sentence, so they are separate sentences.
In example two,


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