Punctuating Dialogue: Pro Tips
Conversation is such a beautiful part of life and is a fantastic tool when used correctly in writing. So let’s talk…about dialogue.
There are several elements of dialogue that I most frequently correct in manuscripts. Let’s look at an example and discuss the parts.
Rule #1: Match paired quotation marks
As a general rule, any words spoken by a character should be contained inside a pair of matching quotation marks. A correctly punctuated line of dialogue will have FOUR marks around it. It’s also important to mention that quotation marks vary based on the font and display you’re using. (For example, font on a cell phone may look different from the font you see in print.)
As a result of that, some quotation marks look curly (curved) and some are straight.
If you use CURLY quotation marks at the beginning of the character’s dialogue, you should use the exact same CURLY quotation marks at the end of the line. Include SOME form of closing punctuation INSIDE the quotation marks.
Rule #2: With very few exceptions, include the ending (terminal) punctuation mark inside the quotation marks
Let’s look at an example. Let’s imagine a character named Jane is yelling at a character names Joe.
Here’s what Jane says: Lock the front door!
Joe is confused. He responds: What? I didn’t hear you.
Jane is frustrated and mutters under her breath: I’ll do it myself.
Do you know where the punctuation marks belong? Take a peek at the image below for answers.
Parts of speech reminder
Remember elementary sentence writing? A sentence is simply a subject and a verb… a do-er and an action, frequently with lots of other stuff added in. In this sentence, she is the subject, the do-er.
Don’t be confused by the commas and the periods! Dialogue is simply a sentence that is spoken out loud by a character. Format the sentence exactly the way you would a regular sentence. Enclose the spoken part by quotations marks and use a comma in place of a period when there are words that come after the quotation marks. A sentence can’t have two periods, so the last period should mark the END of the sentence.
That brings me to another important punctuation pointer: the difference between dialogue tags and action beats.
Dialogue tags
A dialogue tag is simply a set of words used to tell the reader that someone spoke. That’s it. Here are examples of dialogue tags:


A dialogue tag can’t tell the reader anything except information about who spoke and how he/she/they/it said those words.
Action beats
An action beat is quite different. An action beat is a sentence that on its own is clear and understandable (a complete sentence, subject-verb), but which closely relates to the dialogue that was spoken.
If you’re writing action beats, you must punctuate the dialogue that comes before the action beat with a period (or whatever ending punctuation is appropriate, normally a period or exclamation point).
The sentence which follows the action beat will either need more quotations (if the same speaker is speaking) or a new paragraph. If another person speaks, then you’ll need BOTH a new paragraph AND more quotation marks.
Here’s a complete correct example.
See how the sentence that follows the dialogue is close to the quotation marks but is written with a capital letter? That’s because the action beats are independent sentences that are so closely related to the spoke words that they stay close to the dialogue, but they are formatted just like regular sentences.
Do you have questions about punctuating dialogue tags or action beats? Pop a comment below and I’ll try and help!