Punctuating Dialogue (1)

Tag at the Beginning

A line of direct dialogue typically includes two parts:

John said, "My dog is thirsty."

1. John said = the dialogue tag (attribution)
2. My dog is thirsty = the spoken words (the line of dialogue)

There are several ways to punctuate dialogue. Here is the first:

Mary said, "We are going to be late."

Note the following points:

• A comma separates the dialogue tag from the spoken words; the comma comes before the opening quotation marks.
• The spoken words are enclosed in quotation marks.
• The spoken words start with a capital letter.
• The final period (or question mark or exclamation point) is inside the final quotation mark (end quotes).

Here are some more examples:

Bob said, "I'm going home now." Mary said, "I hate you!" He asked, "Are you all right?" She answered, "Vampires are real." I said, "The train is late."

Instructions for the Quiz

1. Login to the quiz.
2. In the text box, write five lines of direct speech.
• Each sentence should start with a tag.
• Punctuate the sentences properly!

Quiz