When characters in a story are speaking the text is set off in a unique way so that readers can visually identify dialogue on the page. Here's how to do it.
Formatting Dialogue
- "I'm the Queen of France," said Marie Antoinette.
- The bolded section is the actual dialogue.
- The italicized section is called the dialogue tag. It indicates who is speaking and how he or she speaks.
- Note that the dialogue is contained within quotation marks and ends with a comma. This is the standard.
- "I was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo," said Napoleon Bonaparte, "and also very short."
- Notice here that the dialogue tag is in the middle and has a comma at the end. This is because both sections of dialogue form one sentence.
- "I went to the Crusades," said Richard the Lionheart. "They were in the Middle East."
- Here, though, the tag uses a period, because "I went to the Crusades" and "they were in the Middle East" are two separate sentences.
- "I have conquered Constantinople!" shouted Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror.
- Notice that even though the dialogue contains ending punctuation (an exclamation point, in this case) that the tag still has a period.
Conversations
"Hello," said Lord Horatio Nelson. "I'm an admiral in England's Royal Navy." He and Themistocles were standing on a dock looking out at the ocean.
"I'm a sailor, too," said Themistocles. "I led the Athenian navy against the Persians at the Battle of Artemisium."
"Capital! I've studied that battle in the history books!"
- Notice that whenever a new character speaks a new paragraph is started.
- Notice, too, that the underlined description is not put in a new paragraph.
- Observe that the second time Nelson speaks there is no dialogue tag. Since there are only two characters in this scene it's fairly obvious that it's Nelson who talks; Themistocles would hardly be speaking to himself!
- Be careful about omitting too many tags, though, as it can get confusing.