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Is using colons and/or semicolons in dialogue awkward? No. Using them is fine. To me at least, every one of the above quotes looks perfectly natural. I agree that trying to find another way to writ...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-12T17:48:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19319 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:42:00Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19319 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Is using colons and/or semicolons in dialogue awkward? **No. Using them is fine.** To me at least, every one of the above quotes looks perfectly natural. I agree that trying to find another way to write them would be difficult, and in some cases, may even harm the flow of writing by using something unnatural. It all comes down to what works best for what you are writing. Even very successful authors will sometimes bypass the rules of grammar (or widely accepted rules of writing) briefly, just because it makes their story more powerful. (I regret I cannot give you any examples off the top of my head. If you read closely, you should find them.) Grammar is a great tool for keeping your writing in a format that is easily understood by all. When you're writing though, be sure to put the words on the page before the correct way to put them there. I love grammar, but sometimes making sure you have perfect _punctuation_ will make your _words_ lack just that: Perfection.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-10-13T05:43:37Z (about 9 years ago)
Original score: 8