![]() If the dialogue has stuttering within a word, use a hyphen with no spaces. If the dialogue trails off or contains faltering pauses (as opposed to abrupt interruptions or quick stuttering/stammering of words) use an ellipsis.** There should be a space between the ellipsis and its neighboring words or punctuation but not between the ellipsis and quotation marks.Įx: “Punctuating dialogue is just so. Didn’t Whitney make a great handout for this?”ġ2. Others argue it depends on the desired effect, with theĪdded space or capitalized letter creating a longer pause than no space or lower case provides.)Įx: “I don’t know how to punctu-Wait. Some editors will add a space after the em dash while others will not capitalize the interrupting word. (Note that Chicago style offers no official ruling on this, and a majority consensus was difficult to determine. If a character abruptly interrupts their own speech with a change of thought, use an em dash without spaces around it and capitalize the interrupting word. “Fixing this punctuation is all on you.”ġ1. ![]() Start a new line for the interruption.Įx: He gripped his red pen. If the dialogue is abruptly interrupted by another speaker or event, use an em dash (with no spaces around it) between the final word and the quotation mark. Interrupted, Faltering, or Stammering Speechġ0. If the dialogue is interrupted between sentences by an action WITHOUT an attribution tag, punctuate everything as individual sentences with quotations marks around the spoken lines.Įx: “I hate dialogue.” He shook his fists. Begin the new sentence of dialogue with a quotation mark and capital letter.Įx: “I hate dialogue,” he said, shaking his fists. ![]() If the dialogue is interrupted between sentences by an attribution AND a separate but simultaneous action in “-ing” form, separate the attribution and action with a comma and place a period after the action phrase. If the dialogue is interrupted between sentences by an attribution tag, punctuate the tag at the end of the sentence as you would in example #3, and then begin a new sentence of dialogue with a capital letter, as you would in example #1.Įx: “I hate dialogue,” he said. There should be no spaces around the dashes and no capitalizing of the action or the second half of the dialogue.Įx: “How on earth”-he shook his fists-“do I punctuate this?”ħ. If the dialogue is interrupted midsentence by an action WITHOUT an attribution tag, offset the dialogue with quotation marks and use em dashes outside the quotation marks to surround the action. If the dialogue is interrupted midsentence by an attribution tag AND a separate but simultaneous action in “-ing” form, use a comma between the tag and action, and punctuate the rest as in example #4.Įx: “How on earth,” he said, shaking his fists, “do I punctuate this?”Ħ. If the dialogue is interrupted midsentence by an attribution tag, offset the attribution tag with commas on both sides and do not capitalize the tag or the second spoken part.Įx: “How on earth,” he said, “do I punctuate this?”ĥ. Do not capitalize the attribution tag.*Įx: “I need help punctuating this,” said Bob.ĭialogue with attribution tags and/or actions in the middleĤ. If the tag comes after the dialogue, use a comma (instead of a period) at the end of the spoken line and before the quotation marks. If the tag comes before the dialogue, use a comma after the tag, capitalize the beginning of the dialogue, and keep final punctuation (. Add quotation marks on the outside of the sentence with no spaces between quotation marks and letters/punctuation.ĭialogue with an attribution tag before or afterĢ. Use standard capitalization and punctuation at the beginning and end of the sentence. Your country’s conventions or publisher’s style choice may vary.)Īttribution tag: a phrase (i.e., “he said”) tagged onto dialogue to inform the reader to whom the line is attributed.ġ. (Disclaimer: These example all use standard American English conventions and Chicago Manual of Style rules. I consulted with multiple professional editors and scoured Chicago Manual of Style and came up with as many different dialogue situations as I could think of, along with instructions and examples of how to punctuate and format those examples. ![]() What if the character interrupts their own dialogue with an action? What if someone stammers a certain word? One of the tell-tale signs of a novice writer is the inability to correctly punctuate basic dialogue, but even seasoned writers can struggle to know the correct way to punctuate certain spoken lines. ![]()
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