What is dialogue? It is
conversation between characters in a story and is very important to add
interest to the piece and to move the plot forward. There are some rules to dialogue, however,
that you want to make sure you know.
RULE #1: A
direct quotation begins with a capital letter.
Jimmy shouted, “See you at the game!”
“Is it true?" asked Cindy.
RULE #2:
When a quotation is interrupted into two parts with words like “he asked” or
“the teacher demanded,” the second
part begins with a lower case letter.
“What are some of the things,” Mrs.
Baskin inquired, “that make school so much fun?”
“One thing I like,” replied Sarah, “is
recess!”
RULE #3:
When writing dialogue, all punctuation marks at the end of the quotation go
inside the quotation marks.
“Let's visit the museum,” suggested
Samantha.
Jon replied, “Didn't we go there last
weekend?”
“But when we did,” Beth added, “we
didn't see the Ancient Egyptian exhibit.”
RULE #4:
Do not put a period at the end of a quotation followed by things like she said,
mom asked, he explained,
etc. Use commas, question marks, and exclamation marks but not periods. Periods
end sentences.
“My Algebra class is driving me crazy!”
Paul yelled.
“That's my favorite class,” Becky
replied.
RULE #5:
Make a new paragraph (indent) when a different person begins to speak.
"Last night, I
dreamt that I ate a giant marshmallow," Kevin said.
"Was that
anything like the dream you had about eating your way through a mountain of fruit cocktail?" asked
Suzy.
"Scarier,"
Kevin explained. "This time I woke up and my pillow was gone."
OTHER
REMINDERS:
-Always make it clear who is speaking
in the dialogue.
-Try to avoid using the word “said”
repeatedly.
Exercise:
Rewrite
the conversation. Remember to start each person’s dialogue on a new line.
I love to go to the movies Cameron
said but there is nothing good showing at all I know Marcie replied it is crazy
how many crappy romantic comedies they churn out tell me about it Cameron
exclaimed if I see one more stupid Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey puke-fest I
will personally poke my eye out with an icepick and perform my own lobotomy I
think that may be a little bit outrageous Marcie pointed out but I can get
behind the sentiment my big beef, though, is the terrible horror movies lately
what happened to scaring us rather than grossing us out would you rather go out
to dinner tonight Cameron asked sounds like a plan Marcie agreed they left to
go to the corner deli, walking arm in arm.
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