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Q&A Confused about when to treat something as a dialogue tag

A sentence can indicate who is speaking without being attached by a comma. “Yes, but I mean no.” Steve stumbles over his words. “Not the come home part.” In this instance, Steve stumbles ove...

posted 5y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:47Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41641
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:42:44Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41641
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:42:44Z (over 4 years ago)
A sentence can indicate who is speaking without being attached by a comma.

> “Yes, but I mean no.” Steve stumbles over his words. “Not the come home part.”

In this instance, _Steve stumbles over his words._ is a complete sentence which interrupts the dialogue, which consists of two complete sentences. It's clear who is speaking, so you don't have to add _he said_ or the like. Use a period at the end of the first sentence of dialogue.

You use a comma to attach dialogue to a narrative tag, which may or may not be a complete sentence.

> "Yes, but I mean no," says Steve.
> 
> He says, "Yes, but I mean no."
> 
> "Yes, but I mean no," he stammers.
> 
> "Yes, but I mean no," Steve stammers, watching Bucky's face.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-01-26T20:57:59Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 2