Punctuation Rules

Know your em dash from your comma when characters are talking

I teach a number of punctuation workshops and the one area that seems to cause the most confusion is punctuation around dialogue.

Here are few important rules:

1. Commas and full-stops (and question marks and exclamation marks) at the end of a line of dialogue come before the speech marks:

   'Come here on Monday,' she said.

   She said, 'Come here on Monday.'

   'Are you coming here on Monday?' she asked.

   'Do not come here on Monday!'

   
   

   Incorrect: 'Come here on Monday', she said.

   
   

2. When the speech tag (he said, she replied, they shouted, etc), comes after the line of dialogue, use lower case:

   'I've lost my key,' she said.

   'What are you doing?' she demanded.

Incorrect: 'I'm very hungry,' She said.

3. If you've got a quote within a line of dialogue (known as a nested quote) use double quotation marks either side of the quoted phrase:

   'I don't care what your sister says. Your mum said, "Everyone must do their homework the minute they come home from school".'

   Note the punctuation at the end of this sentence: double quotation marks, full stop, single quotation mark.

4. Make sure your speech tag is actually a speech tag and not an action beat. These examples are all incorrect:

   'Come here,' he smiled.

   'Sit down,' he pointed at the empty chair.

   'No way,' he slammed the table.

   
   

   Smiling is an action. As is pointing. As is slamming. They are not speech tags which are entirely and only there to tell us who said something. That doesn't mean you can't use those verbs close to a line of dialogue. But you have to make sure they are separated from the speech tag by the use of 'and', a comma, or in a sentence of their own.

Correct: 'Come here,' he said and smiled.

Correct: 'Come here,' he said, smiling.

Correct: 'Sit down.' He pointed at the empty chair.

Correct: He shouted, 'No way!' and slammed the table.

5. You can use an em dash (or, if you prefer, an en dash) to add an action beat in the middle of a line of dialogue, without needing to add a speech tag.

'What a glorious morning' — she opened the door — 'to go for a run.'

6. You can also use an em dash to show that a line of dialogue is interrupted.

   'I don't know if I want to go travelling or—'

   'You never know what you want,' said Tom.