As I critique the work of beginning authors, a few errors come up on a regular basis. In this post I’m going to tackle some punctuation issues that new writers have a hard time with. Once you get these rules down, your writing craft will improve immensely.
**Note: These rules are for writing books. My source is the Chicago Manual of Style. If you are writing articles, some of the rules are a bit different. Refer to the Associated Press Stylebook if you are writing articles.
I. Punctuating Dialogue
A. Format
Each time a new character speaks, their dialogue must be in its own separate paragraph.
Ex:
“Nauja!” Kim’s voice echoed against the tile walls. She ran over to Nauja and sat next to her on the cement bench. “What happened to you?”
Nauja looked at the tile floor. “Mr. Wallinga gave me a tardy slip.”
Kim was unfazed by this information. “So? You never came to class. Did he make you go to the office?”
“No,” Nauja said.
Kim eyes narrowed. “Where did you go, then?”
“I—”
“Hi, girls!” Gracie skipped over to them. Her smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
Kim whispered, “Nauja skipped Home Ec class.”
“What!” The volume of Gracie’s voice made Nauja jump. Two girls dressing behind Gracie stared.
Gracie waved at them. “Sorry.” She turned back to Nauja and crouched down on her haunches. “What happened?”
It’s also wise to start a new paragraph for another character’s reaction to dialogue, although some authors don’t. Here’s an example of dialogue that has another character’s reaction in the same paragraph as the speaker’s dialogue:
Ex:
John glared at Tina and said, “I hate you!” Tina’s eyes filled with tears. “You’re always talking behind my back and spreading lies about me. I can’t have a friend like that; I don’t want one.”
I would write this differently to avoid confusing the reader. With Tina’s action in the middle of that paragraph, the reader may wonder if she said part of that dialogue.
How Jill would write it:
John glared at Tina and said, “I hate you!”
Tina’s eyes filled with tears.
“You’re always talking behind my back and spreading lies about me,” John said. “I can’t have a friend like that; I don’t want one.”
B. Tags
There are two types of dialogue tags: said tags and action tags.
1. Said Tags
A said tag assigns the dialogue to a speaker by using the word said or a variation of that word (asked, yelled, whispered, etc). A said tag is connected to the dialogue with a comma, unless the dialogue is a question or needs an exclamation point. When using a said tag, the pronoun is lowercase unless it is a proper name. Pay special attention to the underlines parts of the examples for proper punctuation.
Sample Said Tags:
“I’m Sam,” the girl said.
“I am the Princess of Whales,” Diana said.
“Get out!” she screamed.
“Get out!” Kelly screamed.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Who are you?” Bob asked.
“True friendship is more about listening,” Mark said, “than talking.” (This is one sentence where the said tag interrupted the dialogue. If you do this, make sure the interruption is in a place that is natural for a speaker to pause. Read the dialogue out loud to see what sounds best.)
“True friendship is more about listening,” Mark said. “Talking doesn’t help you get to know the other person.” (This is two sentences interrupted by the said tag. Between sentences is a natural place to pause, but then the said tag looks like it would at the end of a regular sentence, then a new sentence begins.)
She crossed her arms and said, “That sounds dumb. Why would you want to do that?” (If a tag contains and action and a said element, punctuate like a said tag.)
Also keep in mind that said tags flow better using the pronoun first then the said word.
Ex:
“Goodbye,” Bobby said.
(Pronoun) (said word)
When you reverse them, it may make sense with proper names, “Goodbye,” said Bobby. But it sounds awkward with other pronouns. “Goodbye,” said he. Always put the said word second.
2. Action Tags
An action tag is a complete sentence that shows the reader who the speaker by what they are doing. Because we see the speaker’s action, we know they are the one saying the dialogue. Since action tags are full sentences, they are punctuated like a full sentence.
Sample Action Tags:
Doug scowled, his lips curling in a frown. “Who are you?”
The girl reached out a hand to shake. “I’m Sam.”
“Get out!” Doug slammed the door in her face.
“True friendship is more about listening,” Mark put his finger to his ear, “than talking.” (This is one sentence where the action tag interrupted the dialogue. If you do this, make sure the interruption is in a place that is natural for a speaker to pause. Read the dialogue out loud to see what sounds best.)
“True friendship is more about listening.” Mark put his finger to his ear. “Talking doesn’t help you get to know the other person.” (This is two sentences interrupted by the action tag. Between sentences is a natural place to pause.)
II. Commas
Punctuation is not my thing, but I still need to know the rules to be a professional author. I’ll try to explain them as simply as possible, but I highly recommend picking up a grammar book to have for reference. Some recommendations are: Strunk and White’s, Elements of Style, O’Conner’s Woe Is I: A Grammaphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, Elephants of Style and Lapsing Into a Comma by Bill Walsh, or Cochrane and Humphry’s Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English.
A. Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions
There are seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. Basically, these are words that connect two clauses in a sentence. If you have a sentence that has one of those seven words in the middle, how do you now when you need a comma before the conjunction or not? If the words on both sides of the conjunction are complete sentences by themselves, you need the comma to avoid having a run on sentence.
Ex:
“Almost everyone on earth likes chocolate, but I can’t live without it.” (You need the comma before ‘but’ because “Almost everyone on earth likes chocolate” is a complete sentence and so is “I can’t live without it.”)
If the sentence had one side that wasn’t a complete sentence on its own, a comma would be wrong. “Almost everyone on earth likes chocolate but my Aunt Sue who lives in Charlotte.” Since “My Aunt Sue who lives in Charlotte” is not a complete sentence, a comma is not needed.
A few more examples:
Marcia, Alex, and Josue are from Mexico, yet Emile is from Guatemala.
She had promised her father she would go on the trip, and she had never broken a promise to him in her life.
He is a senior in high school and is really smart. (“Is really smart” is not a sentence so no comma is used.)
NOTE: For a very short sentence, you can omit the comma.
Ex:
The bus departed and we were on our way.
B. Commas After an Introductory Word Group
When you start a sentence with an introductory word group, you need to separate it from the rest of the sentence with a comma.
Ex:
When Martin was ready to eat, the waiter brought him a salad to start with.
Note: The comma can be omitted here in a very short sentence.
Ex:
In no time we were in a different state.
C. Commas Between All Items in a Series
When three or more items are listed in a series, those items should all be separated with commas. This applies to single words, phrases, or clauses. Note that a comma goes before the conjunction at the end of the sentence.
Ex:
My favorite candy is M&M’s, Skittles, and Gummi Bears.
The camp games consisted of aliens and earthlings, trout and hard boiled egg baseball, and singing for bread.
You can choose from going on a hike up the mountain, playing paintball in the field, going on a canoe ride, or swimming in the pool.
D. Commas Between Coordinating Adjectives vs. No Commas Between Cumulative Adjectives
Adjectives are coordinate if they can be joined with ‘and’ or if they can be scrambled and still make sense. Commas are required between coordinate adjectives.
Ex:
Michael is a strong, tall, talented basketball player.
To test this example we first see if we can join the adjectives with ‘and’ and keep the same meaning. Ex: Michael is a strong and tall and talented basketball player.
Next we scramble the adjectives to see if this has an effect. Ex: Michael is a talented, strong, tall basketball player. Same meaning? Yep!
Cumulative adjectives lean on one another, with each modifying a larger word group. They do not require commas in between.
Ex:
Four small white doves flew toward me.
When we test this sample joining the adjectives with ‘and’ is doesn’t work. Ex: Four and small and white and doves flew toward me.
When we scramble them, it also changes the meaning. Ex: “Small four white doves flew toward me.” This doesn’t work nor does, “White small four doves flew toward me.”
E. Commas That Set Off Parenthetical Elements
A comma is used to set off a part of a sentence that can be removed with changing the meaning of the sentence.
Ex:
Tom Hanks, who won an Oscar for the film Philadelphia, is the voice of Woody in the Toy Story films. (“who won an Oscar for the film Philadelphia” is added information and therefore set off by commas.)
F. Commas That Set Off Contracting Phrases
Anything that says the opposite of what your sentence is saying should be set off by a comma.
Ex:
Mother needs the dishes washed now, not tomorrow.
G. Commas That Set Off Quoted Elements
Whether or not a comma is needed for a quote depends on how you use it.
Ex:
Pastor Michaels said, “It’s love that matters most in life.”
Pastor Michaels believes that love matters most in life.
In his sermon, Pastor Michaels shared how he feels that “love matters most.”
H. Commas to Avoid Confusion
Use a comma to avoid confusion.
Example without comma:
Inside the house is cooler because of the air conditioning.
Correct example:
Inside, the house is cooler because of the air conditioning.
Example without comma:
Bulls, which have antlers, are male. (This means that all bulls have antlers.)
Correct example:
Bulls that have antlers are male. (This means that only bulls that have antlers are male.)
Wow! Since I’m not even half done with my outline, I’m going to tackle the rest in another post. If you want to know the rules for colons, semicolons, dashes, ellipses, apostrophes, and numbers, stay tuned.
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