Mechanics Forum

Lord Matt asked me to start a discussion here in the writing mechanics forum about punctuating dialogue. It seems he has become quite irked seeing the same errors being repeated over and over, and thought (Lord knows why), that I should be the one to sort it out.

I shall do my best.

The thing is, punctuation in dialogue has a lot to do with where you're from, and what style guide you follow. I am Canadian and I edit fiction mostly, so I usually follow the conventions that have been laid out by the Chicago Manual of Style.

If you live in North America like I do, and if you follow the rules of the Chicago, you will use double quotation marks on either end of a complete piece of dialogue ( " ). If you're British, you will use the single quotation mark in that place ( ' ). In North America, the only time the single quotation mark is appropriate is when you are nesting dialogue within dialogue, like this: "I couldn't believe it! Matt said, 'I've seen so many errors in punctuation with regards to dialogue, I'm actually irked', and just like that, I came here to write a post."

You may notice two things about the above passage: 1) I used the single quotation marks within the double set to quote Matt within my dialogue, and 2) the strange placement of the other punctuation within the passage.

When you use a single set of quotation marks, usually the internal punctuation goes on the outside of the quotation mark. When you use the double set, usually the internal punctuation goes on the inside. There are exceptions to these rules, of course---there are exceptions to almost every rule---and I would be happy to discuss them in a different post if anyone wishes to hear my geek-speak. For now, however, let's just continue on.

If you are going to incorporate a tag in your dialogue passage, you need to be considerate of how you use your internal punctuation (commas, semi colons, dashes and the like) and your terminal punctuation (periods, exclamation points, question marks, and sometimes the em dash).

Correct way of adding a tag to dialogue:

"Dang, that irks me," Matt said while shaking his fist in the air.

Incorrect way to add a tag to dialogue:

"Dang, that irks me." Matt said while shaking his fist in the air.

In this case, you want your tag to be a continuation of the same thought, so you need to use a comma rather than a period at the end of the dialogue, but a period to finish the whole lot.

Of course, you may sometimes want the tag to be separate from the dialogue, and you should punctuate that accordingly as well:

"Dang, that irks me." Matt walked in a circle, shook his fist in the air, then picked a particularly grim slug of wax from his ear. "I can hardly stand it."

In this example, there is a slight passage of time between the first piece of dialogue and the actions that proceed it. The first bit of dialogue is a complete sentence (it contains both a subject and a verb) and so does the action after it. The second bit of dialogue is a complete sentence too. You will notice that, in the incorrectly punctuated example above, the tag is not an independent clause (ie., you cannot remove the tag and have it stand alone and still make sense). That is a common element to the improperly punctuated tag.

Does this make sense? I think I may be complicating the matter.

EDIT: I feel I made something unclear in the above example of dialogue within dialogue and the use of the single quotation mark. I wish to clear that up here with a single, cleverly crafted explanation.

The internal punctuation when writing a quote within a quote goes on the outside of the single quotation mark UNLESS it was part of the quote, at which time it should be included inside ... Clever? Witty? Clear things right up?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I am currently reading Before they are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie, who is a British author that writes wonderfully dark fantasy. Because of his heritage, in the edition I have, Mr. Abercrombie uses the single quotation marks for regular dialogue, and places the internal punctuation within the quotes just as we do in North America. It is my understanding that this is the norm, despite what the Chicago says (a very wishy-washy and lame explanation about tradition and the occasions one would put internal punctuation in what placement). All I can say is that I am glad I edit North American fiction where the rules are easy to follow. Humbug to tradition. (Only kidding.)

Because of these differences, I would recommend that authors keep in mind their audience and their goals---are you writing for a British agent? Do you want to get your work published in one of the big six (are there still six, even?)? Follow the conventions of the country you will be pitching to, and you should be in the clear.

Sorry this is so long (and confusing).


Come check out my writing website here: http://katmhawthorne.com, or my editing website here: http://www.movetothewrite.com