Our question today is how to correctly write dialogue with action/narrative. Here's an example of why this is necessary (with the detectives from Hawaii Five-0):

"Are there any malasadas left? I'm starving." Steve smiled ( Read more... )

Happy Monday, fellow grammarians! Today we're going to answer the question, "How do you punctuate in dialogue?", a topic previously covered about two years ago, and we even have an initial example from Stargate SG-1 to work with that was provided by our anonymous questioner ( Read more... )

starry_diadem asked, "How do you punctuate and capitalize when the dialogue tag comes before the speech?"
With examples from Once Upon a Time

So what is a dialogue tag anyway? In the simplest terms, this is the whole "he said/she said" bit of your dialogue. There are variations, of course, for those of us who like to spice it up a little. And let's not get ( Read more... )

It is with great pleasure that I answer the 200th question at fandom_grammar! 200 questions is a lot of grammar and we’re looking forward to answering 200 more.

How do you indicate pauses or hesitation in narration and dialogue? (ex. hesitant speech, for emphasis, pauses for breath)
( with examples from Stargate: SG-1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Doctor Who. )

Today’s article is about punctuating dialogue ( Read more... )

Welcome to a brand-spanking new type of content at fandom_grammar. For the next three months, Friday content will consist of Blast From the Past articles, which will link to and expand on existing articles on questions we get asked again and again.

Have a topic you want to see brought up from the archives? Comment hereThis week's topic is punctuation, ( Read more... )

Dialogue is one of several tools that an author uses to establish characters and make them distinct from one another. If you're writing fanfiction (or parody, or pastiche), getting the voices of your borrowed characters to match the author's original renditions can be as important as making their physical descriptions accurate. Still, it's likely ( Read more... )

Question: mirror_mirrin asks, What style options are there for sentences which repeat the same word (e.g., "the," "a," "that")? (ex. John leaned over the table at the mess hall to give Rodney a kiss goodbye before leaving for the war games planned on the Athosian mainland.)

There's not really anything wrong with repeating little words in a sentence, but there' ( Read more... )

alethiaxx asks: What is acceptable/unacceptable in terms of attribution verbs in dialogue? ("spoke", "spat", "laughed", "questioned")

With examples from Stargate SG-1:

( He said/she said versus he growled/she snarled )

alethiaxx asks: Can you put speech tags in the middle of a sentence?

Starring Bertie Wooster and a certain gentleman's gentleman, one Reginald Jeeves.

( Yes and no )