Lesson One ~ Quotations/Dialogue (LadyKura)

Subject: Lesson One ~ Quotations/Dialogue (LadyKura) Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:53 pm

Hello everyone! I'm Kura. These are my tips when it comes to quotation, a common area in which many users have trouble in. Along with quotes, I am going to be covering various other aspects of narrative writing. Keep in mind that although I am very passionate about English, I am far from perfect. We all make mistakes. I am here to aid in preventing the more common ones. I will not criticize you; I will help in the best way I can! =D Any and all questions may be posted as a reply to this topic or messaged to me directly.

(1) WHAT IS A QUOTATION?

Very simple; quotations, or namely 'dialogue', are those magical little words that demonstrate when a character is a speaking in a narrative. Though it is a common misconception that 'quotes' and 'quotations' are the same thing, they are not. To 'quote' is a verb, whereas a 'quotation' is a noun. However, the two are so commonly confused, and for the sake of simplicity, you may see me disregard this altogether.

Dialogue is surrounded by quotation marks (those weird-looking little double-comma things you see floating next to the 'enter' key on your keyboard). Dialogue must always include quotation marks. For example, "Can I borrow your shoes?" and "No, Idiot, get your own!"

(2) THE PUNCTUATION PROBLEM

Pretty basic. It is a particularly cruel law that all sentences need to end in punctuation. Well, dialogue does as well (quotations do not). In dialogue, any punctuation, however, ranging from commas to periods. But here's where it gets iffy:

There's a BIG difference between "Cassian told me he'll be back at nine," and "Cassian told me he'll be back at nine." The first is an incomplete thought, or a fragment, because commas are not used to end sentences. You could end quotations with a comma, but that does not end the sentence. You have to finish it by expressing who is speaking, and the tone that is being used. For example:

"Cassian told me he'll be back at nine," said Castiel.

There! Now you have a sentence. =D

Depending on the tone you want, you can try several different formations. Even if your dialogue ends in a exclamation point or question mark, you do not capitalize the second half:

"Cassian told me he'll be back at nine!" called Castiel.
"What time will you be back?" inquired Castiel.
BUT, ("Cassian told me he'll be back at nine." called Castiel) is INCORRECT. Periods mark the definite end of a sentence.

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