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Q&A What are the rules for punctuating a conversation?

There are three rules for conversation: 1) Indicate through some mark of punctuation that someone is speaking aloud. This can be double quotes " , single quotes ' , dashes of varying lengths — ,...

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

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:48Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48265
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:03:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48265
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T13:03:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
There are three rules for conversation:

**1) Indicate through some mark of punctuation that someone is speaking aloud.**

This can be double quotes " , single quotes ' , dashes of varying lengths — , guillemets « , or whatever else typographic convention is in your area.

**2) Make it clear who is speaking.**

This is usually through some kind of dialogue tag _(he said, she shouted, they whispered)_. You can also distinguish characters through vocabulary, grammar, diction, foreign language, accent, etc. Not every utterance necessarily needs a tag, but it should be easily and absolutely clear who is speaking any given line. If two people are talking and I have to count lines of dialogue to determine the speaker, you need more dialogue tags, variation in speech, and/or stage business.

**3) New speaker gets a new paragraph.**

It doesn't matter how many people are talking or how often they interrupt each other. Each new person speaking starts a new paragraph. (There are _rare_ exceptions, but I wouldn't experiment with them until you have the basics down solid.)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-09-29T15:38:16Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 18