Dialogue Tags and Work Page

One thing I see a lot of in editing is incorrect dialogue tags. And hey, that’s okay, because you hired an editor to go through and make sure they are correct. But in case you want to learn how to write them correctly, you’ve come to the right place!

If you’re searching for an editor, either for the first time or because of a negative experience, make sure you check out my previous blogs: Don’t Wait Until “The End.” A guide for when to book your editor, and Editor Red Flags.

So what is a dialogue tag?

A dialogue tag is simply how a character speaks in a written work. It deals with both what is inside the quotations and the words around it. For instance:

The boy said, “Hello, Mr. Baker. I need two cinnamon rolls.” Then he went to the register to pay.

The sentence leading into and out of the dialogue is what we want to focus on.

With dialogue tags, there will always be some sort of punctuation on the inside of the final quotation mark. If after the dialogue, you describe the speaker as speaking, or anything having to do with their speech, you will often use a comma inside the quotation marks (I say often because you can also use question marks if a question is asked, or an exclamation point if the sentence calls for it, but you would not use a period after the dialogue if the words after describe the speaking). 

IF after the dialogue, you describe the speaker doing something else or describe anything that is not the voice of the speaker, you will use a period, question mark, or exclamation point. The next word outside of the quotations will be upper case and begin a new sentence. Examples of dialogue tags: 

“I love you,” he said. The words describe the person speaking, and so a comma and a lower case ‘h’ is used. 

“I love you.” He looked at me. Because the words don’t describe the speech, a period is used and an uppercase ‘H’ is used to start a new sentence. 

“He loves you?” he asked. A lower case ‘h’ is used here because the words are describing the speaker’s speech, so it is still part of the same sentence.

“He loves you?” She was surprised by the question. Because the words don’t describe the speaker’s speech, a capital ‘S’ is used to signify the start of a new sentence. 

Interested in practicing yourself? Copy and paste the next sentences into a Word doc and see if you can correctly identify where the punctuation should go. The answers will be in bold at the end of the blog.

Not sure if you’re ready practice? That is okay! If you are interested in finding an editor, I would love to give you a sample of my work. Please reach out using my contact page!

PRACTICE:
“I walked to the store” The lady in front of me told the other woman

Today is rainy, and I told my grocer “I hate the rain” 

“Stop” she yelled. 

“Wait” the command stopped her in her tracks. 

I walked to the store. The lady in front of me asked “how much are apples” the grocer responded “three for a dollar” the lady thought that was too expensive.

“He chose it without giving me any say” biting the inside of my cheek, I give him a smile as I turn back to Marcus.

“I would be honored to have this dance with you, Princesca” he extends his hand out for me to hold.

“You have time for a dance or two, don’t worry. I’m keeping an eye on the cameras for the guard shift” SJ answers. 

“So we both share a love and desire for artifacts and their untold stories” I say, moving my hand to his neck. 

“As I recall, it looked like you were enjoying it” he leans into me as he slows down and we are swaying to the music.

ANSWER KEY:

“I walked to the store.” The lady in front of me told the other woman. Because the dialogue is not being spoken by the narrator, the sentence inside the quotation marks stands on its own as a complete sentence.

Today is rainy, and I told my grocer, “I hate the rain.” The sentence requires a comma after ‘grocer’ because they are actively speaking. The comma signals that the next part is what they said aloud.

“Stop!” she yelled. An exclamation mark works here because it does not require the next word outside of the quotations to be capitalized. It also shows that the word inside the dialogue is being yelled, instead of just said, which would be better shown as a comma.

“Wait.” The command stopped her in her tracks. The period ends the quote because the narration that follows isn’t a dialogue tag. It’s an action or reaction to the dialogue. It’s a separate sentence.

I walked to the store. The lady in front of me asked, “How much are apples?” Since the speaker’s dialogue is introduced by the narration, we use a comma before the opening quotation mark. This signals that the following is exactly what she said.

The grocer responded, “Three for a dollar.” The comma after “responded” shows that the phrase is introducing spoken dialogue. The period inside the quotation marks ends what the grocer actually said. The tag and dialogue together form one complete sentence.

“He chose it without giving me any say.” Biting the inside of my cheek, I give him a smile as I turn back to Marcus. A period is correct since the next part is not a dialogue tag, it’s an action.

“I would be honored to have this dance with you, Princess.” He extends his hand out for me to hold. Again, because the action does not describe how the words were spoken, a period is the correct option.

“You have time for a dance or two, don’t worry. I’m keeping an eye on the cameras for the guard shift,” Todd answers. Here, the comma inside the quotation marks connects the spoken line to the dialogue tag ‘answers.’

“So we both share a love and desire for music,” I say, moving my hand to his neck. This uses a comma inside the dialogue because “I say” is a speech tag. The rest of the sentence (“moving my hand to his neck”) continues the same sentence as a modifying action attached to the tag.

“As I recall, it looked like you were enjoying it.” He leans into me as he slows down. This ends with a period because the action after it is separate from the dialogue.