Over the years I’ve found that one of the things that trips up many writers is the punctuation of dialogue. This involves not only the basic punctuation (which symbols to put before the final quotation marks; where the speech tags go; which bits go inside the quotation marks and which bits go outside) but other issues like how to show the reader the rhythm of speech.

I’ve written an article on this for Suite101- 5 Tips on Punctuation for Dialogue – and I plan to follow it up with more in a series on punctuation of dialogue – the more subtle aspects.

Let me know if you have any particular problems with this aspect of writing!

Marg

Tags: grammar and punctuation,punctuating dialogue
Categories: grammar and punctuation
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