Punctuating dialogue

The rule in one minute

Dialogue has four simple rules.

1. Put the exact spoken words inside speech marks.
2. Put the punctuation that ends the speech inside the closing speech mark. Use a comma if the sentence continues (she said). Use a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark if the sentence ends there.
3. Begin the first spoken word with a capital letter.
4. Start a new line every time the speaker changes.

A line of speech with a tag after it looks like this: “We should leave now,” he whispered. The comma sits inside the marks. He is lowercase because he whispered is a tag, not a new sentence.

If the tag comes first, the comma moves: He whispered, “We should leave now.”

Why it matters in the exam

Dialogue appears mostly in narrative and descriptive writing. A small piece of speech contains several punctuation decisions: speech marks, commas, capitals and new lines. A marker can see quickly whether you control them.

Messy dialogue lowers the accuracy mark and also makes the story hard to follow, because the reader loses track of who is speaking. Clean dialogue keeps the exchange easy to read and lets your storytelling stand out.

Wrong and right

• Wrong: “Where are you going” she asked. Right: “Where are you going?” she asked. The question mark belongs to the speech, so it goes inside.
• Wrong: “I don’t know.” he replied. Right: “I don’t know,” he replied. Use a comma, not a full stop, because the sentence continues.
• Wrong: She smiled and said “come in”. Right: She smiled and said, “Come in.” Use a comma before the speech, a capital to start it, and a full stop inside.
• Wrong (two speakers on one line): “Hurry up,” said Amir. “I’m coming,” said Lena. Right: start a new line when Lena answers.
• Wrong: “the door is open,” he said. Right: “The door is open,” he said. Capitalise the first spoken word.

Try it yourself

Punctuate each line correctly, then check below.

1. what time does the shop open asked the tourist
2. I’ll wait here she said until you get back
3. He shouted stop
4. Are you sure the guide replied

Answers: (1) “What time does the shop open?” asked the tourist. (2) “I’ll wait here,” she said, “until you get back.” The tag splits the speech, so there is a comma inside the first part and another after said. (3) He shouted, “Stop!” (4) “Are you sure?” the guide replied.

Make it a habit

After every line of speech, ask four quick questions.

• Are the speech marks around only the spoken words?
• Is the ending punctuation inside them?
• Does the first spoken word have a capital?
• If the speaker changed, did I start a new line?

The most important rule is new speaker, new line, because it helps the reader most and is the one students forget first when rushing. Next, decide between a comma and a full stop at the tag: a comma if the sentence continues after the speech, a full stop if it ends there.

Reading the dialogue aloud also helps you hear where a sentence really ends.

Where students get stuck, and how we help

Students often put the comma or question mark outside the speech marks, or squeeze two speakers into one paragraph when time is short. In our First Language English lessons, a teacher marks the dialogue in your own stories and corrects it on your own sentences, which works better than copying a rule.

Lessons start from RM70/hr. You can book a paid one-hour trial to try it.

Next step

Practise with narrative tasks in the practice area. Then read about question and exclamation marks and quotation punctuation. Our skills guides show how dialogue fits into a whole story.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to use the rule in your own writing. Our IGCSE English tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.