Quotation Marks and Dialogue

0:00What do quotation marks do, and how do we write down what people say?

0:05Here is a short passage about two friends, written with no quotation marks.

0:11Maya and Noah each say something, but nothing shows where their words start and stop.

0:17Quotation marks go around the exact words a person says. Four rules make dialogue clear.

0:24Open the marks right before the first spoken word, and close them right after the last one.

0:30A comma separates the speech tag, such as Maya said, from the words that were spoken, unless the speech comes first and ends with a question mark or an exclamation mark.

0:42The period, question mark or comma at the end of the speech goes inside the closing mark.

0:49Each time a new person speaks, start a new line.

0:53Here is the same passage written as dialogue.

0:58The marks wrap only the words that were spoken, and each speech begins with a capital letter.

1:04A comma follows Maya said and Noah asked. In the last line, the comma comes before she replied.

1:13The period, the question mark and the comma all sit inside the closing marks.

1:19Each time the speaker changes, the dialogue moves to a new line.

1:23Quotation marks wrap the exact words a person says, with the punctuation tucked inside.