Megan Small Dialogue Rules

							            Dialogue Rules



                      ALL ABOARD…

Come join the ride to learn how to use dialogue correctly in writing!
                   Rule #1
   A direct quote begins with a capital
                   letter.


Ex. Jimmy shouted, “See you at the game!”
Ex. “Is it true?” asked Cindy.
                     Rule #2
• When a quote is          Ex: “What are some of
  interrupted into two       the things,” Mrs.
  parts with words like      Small asked, “that
  “he asked” or “the         make school so much
  teacher demanded,”         fun?”
  the second part begins   Ex: “One thing I like,”
  with a lowercase           Ali replied, “is
  letter.                    recess!”
                   Rule #3
When writing dialogue, all punctuation marks
 at the end of the quote go at the inside of the
 quotation marks.




Ex. “Let’s visit the museum,” suggested Samantha.
Ex. Jon replied, “Didn’t we go there last weekend?”
                   Rule #4
Do not put a period at the end of a quotation
 followed by things like she said, mom
 asked, he explained. Use commas, question
 marks, and exclamation marks but not
 periods. Periods end sentences.

Ex: “My Math class is hard,” replied Tom
Ex: “That’s my favorite class!” yelled Monica
                         Rule #5
Make a new paragraph (indent) when a different
 person begins to speak.

Ex:
       “Last night, I dreamt that I ate a giant marshmallow,”
 Kevin said.
       “That’s crazy!” replied Kate.
       “Wait until you hear about the dream I had about swimming
  in a mountain of fruit cocktail,” responded Jim.