Basic Dialogue Formatting and Punctuation

Writing good dialogue is not easy, but punctuating and formatting dialogue usually is easy—and important. Dialogue punctuation and formatting tells the reader when someone is speaking, when their speech stops, if they’re asking a question or making a statement, if the speech is halting or interrupted, etc. Good punctuation is vital to your meaning and should not be an afterthought. Unfortunately, many writers do not know even the basics of dialogue punctuation (I have even seen English teachers get it wrong). If you’re one of them, don’t worry, these four basic tips will cover most of your dialogue needs.

1. Enclose direct quotes in quotation marks. Capitalize the first letter in the quote.

He said, “Go ahead.”

Please note that indirect quotes do not need quotation marks:

He told them to go ahead.

2. Notice the placement of commas and other punctuation with the dialogue tags and quotation marks:

He said, “Hello.”
“Hello,” she replied.
“What are you doing here?”

In American usage, commas and periods always go inside the ending quotation mark. Question marks and exclamation marks go inside if they are part of the quote, and outside if they are not part of the quote.

“Eek!” she screamed. (The exclamation is part of the quote.)
What did she mean by “just you wait”? (“Just you wait” is not a question. The question mark goes outside.)

3. Start a new paragraph for each new speaker, even if that person only says one word. This helps the reader keep track of who is speaking.

“Do you like dogs?” she asked.
“I love dogs,” he replied. “In fact, I have six dogs at home.”
“Wow!”

Note that when one character’s speech is broken by a dialogue tag or short narration, there is no need to start a new paragraph when that character begins speaking again.

4. Use a three-period ellipsis to indicate stammering speech or when a character’s speech trails off.

“I’m not sure … I mean … Oh, I don’t know anymore.”

“I’ve been thinking …”

Use an em dash (or two hyphens) to indicate interrupted speech.

“I think we should—”
“I just don’t care what you think!”

These four points cover only the basics of dialogue formatting and punctuation, but the basics will take you far. For more detail or more complex situations, consult your grammar book (every writer should have one).