COMMAS w/Quotes ?!

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CharlotteAmbrose

CharlotteAmbrose

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I'm sure there is a thread on here about this but I can't find it - and I've searched - for the last hour. Please feel free to point me in the right direction. Thanks.

I've looked at some sites online and read through some books still have no better understanding. Sometimes commas are used and some times they aren't - I don't know the rule.
Question being - when is it proper to use commas for your characters dialogue?

"I really like your tie", she said.

or

"I really like your tie." she said.

How about this one - comma or period?

He chuckled, "Your funny." or He chuckled. "Your funny."



Does it have to do with tense, tone, person, capitalization??? Please help.
 
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JJohns

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I don't think it's ever proper to have dialogue tags follow the quote without a comma.

So it's:

"I really like your tie," she said.

and

"I really like your tie," I said.
 
CharlotteAmbrose

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Okay - thank you. That's exactly what I wasn't seeing - the dialogue tags.

This new dog hates re-learning old tricks.
 

qwerty

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In dialogue, the punctuation goes inside the quote marks regardless of tense, tone etc.

"I really like your tie," she said. A comma is used here because it's followed by a speech tag. If followed by other than a speech tag it would be a period.

"I really like your tie." She smiled/She peered closely at it/She shrugged.

You shouldn't use two punctuations at the end of dialogue, as in your example: "I really like your tie.", I said."
 
kct webber

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Querty is right on. I think what you may be seeing, and what may be confusing you, is the difference between what is a dialogue tag and what is not a diaologue tag. And the fact that you can still have a dialogue tag and only one sentence with an x point or a question mark.

"Blah," she said. <----Dialogue tag. It's part of the same sentance. Thus, there is no full stop.

"Blah." She turned and walked away. <---not a dialogue tag. The fact that the she who walked away is that same she who said 'blah' is obvious.

On the other hand:

"Blah!" she said. <---still a dialogue tag, but the x point is needed. Still only one sentance. Same with: "Blah?" she said.

But not with:

"Blah!" She slammed the her hand on the counter.
 
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CharlotteAmbrose

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I can never just look at something and get it - so I'm glad to have it broken down. I was getting confused because in my writing I do it wrong and that was brought up on another post. So I pulled out three diff books and I wasn't getting the tag part.

"He's all right," Wendell said
confusing it with
"I'll be fine", she said.


I was looking at Wendell and she.
Thanks everybody!!
 
CharlotteAmbrose

CharlotteAmbrose

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I didn't know there was a grammar for grasshoppers - good lawd this place is huge!!!
Thanks!
 

miss marisa

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"he said" and "she said" is part of the dialogue. It's one of my pet peeves when I see a period before tags or a comma outside of the quotes. "This is how it should look like," I said.
And for the second one it's 'He chuckled. "Your funny."' It does not indicate that he's speaking. He is just chuckling. It's rather hard to chuckle while talking.
 
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