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Short story author, Novelist in the making & Grammar enthusiast

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dialogue

How to punctuate dialogue

Matthew Ward · 18/09/2020 · 2 Comments

It’s dialogue time again. Over the last two weeks, I’ve addressed paragraphing dialogue and capitalising dialogue. This week, it’s time to address punctuating dialogue so that mere formatting can never again harm your brilliant lines of dialogue. There is nothing profound or … [Read more...] about How to punctuate dialogue

Filed Under: Grammar Blogs Tagged With: dialogue, English grammar, English punctuation, grammar, punctuation

How to capitalise dialogue

Matthew Ward · 11/09/2020 · 3 Comments

If you’ve written fabulous dialogue, I’m ready to help you defend it against awkward punctuation, strange capital letters, and wonky paragraphing. Mere formatting errors will never get between your dialogue and your readers again. Last week, we worked through how to paragraph … [Read more...] about How to capitalise dialogue

Filed Under: Grammar Blogs Tagged With: capitalisation, dialogue, English grammar, grammar

How to paragraph dialogue

Matthew Ward · 04/09/2020 · 2 Comments

Brilliant dialogue is central to so many of our favourite stories, fiction and nonfiction. So, how unfortunate would it be to develop perfect conversations for the characters, only to format them incorrectly on the page? We can’t be letting paragraphing, punctuation, or … [Read more...] about How to paragraph dialogue

Filed Under: Grammar Blogs Tagged With: dialogue, English grammar, grammar, paragraph

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“What about milk?” Debbie asked. Mark reached for the milk. “Let me see.” He shook the carton. “There’s only a drop left.” “I’ll add it to the list.”

This paragraph includes several mistakes.

The paragraph starts with Debbie’s dialogue. Then, it moves to Mark’s. Then, it returns to Debbie’s. We need to start new paragraphs with each new speaker.

And we need to make sure that information about Debbie is alongside her dialogue, and information about Mark is placed alongside his dialogue.

When we put this into action we get this:

“What about milk?” Debbie asked.

Mark reached for the milk. “Let me see.” He shook the carton. “There’s only a drop left.”

“I’ll add it to the list.”

Now that’s perfect.

Mark, standing in the kitchen and hearing her call, opened the fridge. “I think,” Debbie continued, “we might be low on cheese.”

This paragraph includes a mistake. The dialogue in the paragraph is Debbie’s. Therefore, information that is primarily about Mark shouldn’t be in the same paragraph.

This is how it should be written:

Mark, standing in the kitchen and hearing her call, opened the fridge.

“I think,” Debbie continued, “we might be low on cheese.”

Mark moved one block of cheddar and checked behind it. “No, we’ve got two blocks.”

This paragraph is perfect. It involves Mark’s dialogue and information about Mark.

“Have we got enough groceries to last the week?” Debbie shouted from the living room.

This paragraph is perfect. It involves Debbie’s dialogue and information about Debbie.


There’s no need to wait for my next post because I’ve got an offer for you.
I’ll edit the punctuation and grammar in any two paragraphs of your writing for free.
You could choose the most awkward ones if you like!
(I’d probably do that if I were you.)
Then, when I return your paragraphs, I’ll include full explanations of every edit so that you can apply them to the rest of your writing. I’d love to help.
For more information and to take up my offer, click here.