Feature - punctuating with dialogue

[mab_browne]

Today’s article is about punctuating dialogue

Comments

[diebirchen]

You fail to speak to the question of colons and semicolons which, at least in the United States, always go outside the quotation marks. I am unsure of the British convention on that point of punctuation, though when considered, outside seems most logical.

[theemdash]

To be fair, I can't think of a single instance in which you would end dialogue with a colon or semi-colon. But that is a topic that should be addressed at some point.

[diebirchen]

My Grandma Hamersmith always told me, "A stitch in time saves nine"; however, I find it easier to donate that blasted thing to Good Will.

[diebirchen]

Okay -- not dialogue, but it's a point of punctuation with quotation marks, and yes, there was a Grandma Hamersmith.

[dark_weezing]

I found this to be most helpful. Thank you.

[china_shop]

This is great, Mab. \o/

"Are you telling me" - Blair's eyebrows rose - "that you like doing tests?"

Huh. I've always put the dash inside the quotations marks for this (and added a full-stop):

"Are you telling me--" Blair's eyebrows rose. "--that you like doing tests?"

It's like his actions are interrupting his dialogue, so that makes sense to me. And here:

”Oh my God... ,” Blair murmured, staring at the vandalised living room.

I wouldn't put a comma after the ellipsis. (In fact, I don't use ellipses at all; I got into the probably terrible habit of using em dashes for trailing off as well as interruptions, because I read somewhere way back where that filling your dialogue with dots and dashes was a fashion crime akin to wearing spots and stripes, and maybe unnecessarily, I took that to heart. /o\)

/random points

[theemdash]

I also knee-jerked that the dash should be inside the quotation mark, however, in the example shown here wherein there is an interjection, the em dash outside is correct. (When the em dash ends the thought though? INSIDE!)

Though, I agree; I don't think there should be a comma after the ellipsis. I'll look into that and have the article updated if necessary.

We have an article all about Speech that Trails Off that might interest you.

[china_shop]

however, in the example shown here wherein there is an interjection, the em dash outside is correct.

Yeeah. But the close-quotes without any other punctuation makes me really twitchy. (I think this is an area where, for me, style trumps correctness.)

Thanks for the link. :-)

[michelel72]

I use the same form as you, because the dialogue is being interrupted by the action, so I cut off the dialogue with the emdash within the quotation mark. That said, I haven't seen the method bluewolf458 mentions below ... but there's a logic to it that appeals to me.

I wouldn't agree that commas could be used with interrupting action (ref. the first Blair's eyebrows rose example); most sources I've read criticize that harshly, since it's using a dialogue-tag formation but the action is not a speaking action. (It's more exaggerated in this example, since the speaker is Blair, not his eyebrows, so the two elements have conflicting active agents.) Which is not to say I don't like and appreciate this article!

[starry_diadem]

Can I suggest you cover another form, where the dialogue tag comes *before* the actual speech? I've seen all too much of this:

Looking up from the screen, Jim said, "can Blair be trusted to get me the right coffee?" - which is, of course, incorrect.

It should be:

Looking up from the screen, Jim said, "Can Blair be trusted to get me the right coffee?"

[theemdash]

I flipped through our articles and haven't found that question addressed before, would you mind submitting it to our queue>, so our question mod can grab it? Thanks!

[starry_diadem]

Will do.

[bluewolf458]

We (UK) were always taught that each new paragraph inside one speech should begin with the speech marks.

Re the single quote marks around speech in the UK - this is relatively recent, it always used to be the double. I'm not sure just when it changed or why, and I personally don't like it.

[green_grrl]

That is the same as above. In the UK, do the multiple paragraphs also have closing quotation marks? In the US it's only the end of the person's dialogue that gets the closing mark.

[bluewolf458]

No, only the closing paragraph gets the speech mark. But I've seen stories where every paragraph in the speech gets opening and closing marks.

I got the impression from Mab's explanation that the speech marks at the beginning of every paragraph in a long speech isn't automatic, but that one source says they should.

Just don't get me started on aberrant apostrophes!

[green_grrl]

Okay, yes, US rules are the same--quotes at every paragraph start but only closing at the end. The Chicago Manual of Style is the major authority for American typesetting.