rules for writing speech in stories

How to Format Dialogue in a Story: 10 Dialogue Rules to Follow

How to format dialogue in a story | how to format dialogue, last updated on: july 11, 2022, why is it important to format dialogue, 1. set speech in double quotation marks, 2. dialogue tags stay outside of the quotation marks., 3. punctuation for speech stays within the quotation marks, 4. actions get their own sentence, 5. quoting within dialogue, 6. quotation marks for long dialogue, 7. start a new paragraph each time a new character speaks, 8. continue interrupted speech with a lowercase letter, 9. use an em-dash to indicate interruption, 10. use an ellipsis to indicate speech trailing off.

Writing dialogue is an essential part of writing almost any book. Whether picture book, middle grade, or thriller, chances are that if a book contains characters, at some point they will speak. For many authors, writing dialogue comes easy, while for others it is a challenge. Regardless of which kind of author you are, I’d be willing to bet that at some point you questioned the proper formatted of your dialogue. And it’s no wonder. Formatting dialogue can be tricky. Does the period go inside or outside the quote marks? What if you’re quoting someone else within in a character’s dialogue? And when do you capitalize the text at the start of a speech?

With so many questions, it can be tempting to just do your best and move on—to let the reader figure it out, or to assume an editor will catch the mistakes. But the truth is, understanding and following the rules of dialogue shows a level of professionalism that both readers and editors appreciate. It shows that an author has taken the time to learn their craft: not just how to tell a story but how to tell it properly. So let’s dive in!

What are the top 10 dialogue rules?

While formatting on thoughts can be ambiguous, formatting on dialogue is not. Anything a character says aloud should be enclosed in double quotation marks.

“Come on, Sally. Let’s go.”

A dialogue tag attributes speech to a character. It is not part of the actual speech. As such, the dialogue tag stays outside the quotation marks. 

“Come on, Sally. Let’s go,” Kevin said.

When a dialogue tag precedes the dialogue, a comma should be used before the opening quotation mark.

Kevin said, “Let’s go, Sally.”

When dialogue ends with either a question mark or an exclamation point, the punctuation stays within the quotation marks. When dialogue ends with a period, the period is replaced by a comma. In all cases, the dialogue tag that follows begins with a lowercase letter and ends with a period.

“Come on, Sally. Let’s go!” said Kevin.

“When can we go, Sally?” asked Kevin.

Kevin asked, “When can we go?”

Pro tip: Exclamation points and question marks should never appear after a dialogue tag. Punctuation is meant to modify the actual speech, not the way it is said.

Attributing dialogue with tags on every line can get cumbersome. One way around this is to set up who is going to speak with an action before their dialogue. In such cases, the action should get its own sentence.

Kevin shook his head. “When can we go, Sally?”

By showing Kevin shaking his head immediately before he speaks, the reader can infer that the next line comes from him.

Often characters will quote someone else’s words. Using another set of quotation marks within their speech can appear confusing, especially if there is any question of whether the next set of quotation marks is actually functioning as the end of their speech. Instead, use single quotation marks within the double quotation marks.

“When you said, ‘Be there at 8!’ I thought you’d be on time,” Kevin said.

It’s tempting to put a closing quotation mark at the end of every paragraph, but if a character’s speech runs over multiple paragraphs, that would be misleading. After all, they aren’t done speaking. Instead, begin each paragraph with an opening quotation mark to remind readers that someone is speaking. Do not include a closing quotation mark until the speech is complete.

“I want to go, Sally,” Kevin said. “I’ve been waiting all morning. I don’t understand why you can’t just leave the house on time.

“I mean, let’s be honest. It’s not as if there’s that much to do. Put on shoes, grab your purse, and let’s go. But no, you have to find the right shoes, and the right purse.

“I tell you, the waiting is enough to drive a person mad!”

Pro Tip: Although it looks odd, this rule applies to picture books as well. In the case of dialogue running over multiple pages, use opening quotes at the start of each page, but do not close the quotes until the speech is done.

It’s not uncommon to see authors run dialogue together into one big paragraph, but reading it in that way can get confusing. Instead, give each characters’ words their own space by starting a new paragraph each time someone new starts talking.

“When can we go, Sally?” Kevin asked.

“In a minute,” Sally called.

When a dialogue tag comes between two sentences, the second sentence will begin with a capital letter. But when the dialogue tag comes in the middle of the sentence, the second half of the speech should continue in lowercase. In these cases, the first part of the sentence should end with a comma, and another comma should follow the dialogue tag.

“Come on, Sally,” Kevin said. “Let’s go.”

“I want to go,” Kevin said, “but I’m still waiting for Sally.”

It’s not uncommon for characters in a novel to interrupt each other. But how can you make it clear to a reader that a sentence has been cut off? By using an em-dash at the end of the speech. Note that the em-dash goes inside the quotation marks.

“Sally,” Kevin said, “I really want to—”

“Not now,” Sally interrupted. “I’m on a call.”

Often characters finishing speaking in a less than definitive way. To indicate that a character’s speech is trailing off, end with an ellipsis inside the quotation marks. No additional punctuation is needed when ending with an ellipsis.

“We were going to the beach,” Kevin said, “but then Sally got a call, and the dog ate her shoes, and, well . . .”

Pro Tip: Ellipses should be written as three periods with a space between each one.

Want to learn more about how write effective dialogue? Check out 5 Tips to Write Dialogue Effectively . 

And for more information on how to format your whole book, don’t forget How to Format a Book Manuscript: A Complete Guide .

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How to Write Dialogue: Rules, Examples, and 8 Tips for Engaging Dialogue

by Fija Callaghan

You’ll often hear fiction writers talking about “character-driven stories”—stories where the strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations of the central cast of characters stay with us long after the book is closed. But what drives character, and how do we create characters that leave long-lasting impressions?

The answer lies in dialogue : the device used by our characters to communicate with each other. Powerful dialogue can elevate a story and subtly reveal important information, but poorly written dialogue can send your work straight to the slush bin. Let’s look at what dialogue is in writing, how to properly format dialogue, and how to make your characters’ dialogue the best it can be.

What is dialogue in a story?

Dialogue is the verbal exchange between two or more characters. In most fiction, the exchange is in the form of a spoken conversation. However, conversations in a story can also be things like letters, text messages, telepathy, or even sign language. Any moment where two characters speak or connect with each other through their choice of words, they’re engaging in dialogue.

Why does dialogue matter in a story?

We use dialogue in a story to reveal new information about the plot, characters, and story world. Great dialogue is essential to character development and helps move the plot forward in a story.

Writing good dialogue is a great way to sneak exposition into your story without stating it overtly to the reader; you can also use tools like dialect and diction in your dialogue to communicate more detail about your characters.

Through a character’s dialogue, we can learn about their motivations, relationships, and understanding of the world around them.

A character won’t always say what they mean (more on dialogue subtext below), but everything they say will serve some larger purpose in the story. If your dialogue is well-written, the reader will absorb this information without even realizing it. If your dialogue is clunky, however, it will stand out and pull your reader away from your story.

Rules for writing dialogue

Before we get into how to make your dialogue realistic and engaging, let’s make sure you’ve got the basics down: how to properly format dialogue in a story. We’ll look at how to punctuate dialogue, how to write dialogue correctly when using a question mark or exclamation point, and some helpful dialogue writing examples.

Here are the need-to-know rules for formatting dialogue in writing.

Enclose lines of dialogue in double quotation marks

This is the most essential rule in basic dialogue punctuation. When you write dialogue in North American English, a spoken line will have a set of double quotation marks around it. Here’s a simple dialogue example:

“Were you at the party last night?”

Any punctuation such as periods, question marks, and exclamation marks will also go inside the quotation marks. The quotation marks give a visual clue to the reader that this line is spoken out loud.

In European or British English, however, you’ll often see single quotation marks being used instead of double quotation marks. All the other rules stay the same.

Enclose nested dialogue in single quotation marks

Nested dialogue is when one line of dialogue happens inside another line of dialogue—when someone is verbally quoting someone else. In North American English, you’d use single quotation marks to identify where the new dialogue line starts and stops, like this:

“And then, do you know what he said to me? Right to my face, he said, ‘I stayed home all night.’ As if I didn’t even see him.”

The double and single quotation marks give the reader clues as to who’s speaking. In European or British English, the quotation marks would be reversed; you’d use single quotation marks on the outside, and double quotation marks on the inside.

Every speaker gets a new paragraph

Every time you switch to a new speaker, you end the line where it is and start a new line. Here are some dialogue examples to show you how it looks:

“Were you at the party last night?” “No, I stayed home all night.”

The same is true if the new “speaker” is only in focus because of their action. You can think of the paragraphs like camera angles, each one focusing on a different person:

“Were you at the party last night?” “No, I stayed home all night.” She raised a single, threatening eyebrow. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and watched Netflix instead.”

If you kept the action on the same line as the dialogue, it would get confusing and make it look like she was the one saying it. Giving each character a new paragraph keeps the speakers clear and distinct.

Use em-dashes when dialogue gets cut short

If your character begins to speak but is interrupted, you’ll break off their line of dialogue with an em-dash, like this:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—” “Is that really what happened?”

Be careful with this one, because many word processors will treat your em-dash like the beginning of a new sentence and attach your closing quotation marks backwards:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—“

You may need to keep an eye out and adjust as you go along.

In this dialogue example, the new speaker doesn’t lead with an em-dash; they just start speaking like normal. The only time you’ll ever open a line of dialogue with an em-dash is if the speaker who’s been cut off continues with what they were saying:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—” “Is that really what happened?” “—watched Netflix instead. Yes, that’s what happened.”

This shows the reader that there’s actually only one line of dialogue, but it’s been cut in the middle by another speaker.

Each line of dialogue is indented

Every time you give your speaker a new paragraph, it’s indented from the left-hand side. Many word processors will do this automatically. The only exception is if your dialogue is opening your story or a new section of your story, such as a chapter; these will always start at the far left margin of the page, whether they’re dialogue or narration.

Long speeches don’t use use closing quotation marks until the end

Most writers favor shorter lines of dialogue in their writing, but sometimes you might need to give your character a longer one—for instance, if the character speaking is giving a speech or telling a story. In these cases, you might choose to break up their speech into shorter paragraphs the way you would if you were writing regular narrative.

However, here the punctuation gets a bit weird. You’ll begin the character’s dialogue with a double quotation mark, like normal. But you won’t use a double quotation mark at the end of the paragraph, because they haven’t finished speaking yet. But! You’ll use another opening quotation mark at the beginning of the subsequent paragraph. This means that you may use several opening double quotation marks for your character’s speech, but only ever one closing quotation mark.

If your character is telling a story that involves people talking, remember to use single quotation marks for your dialogue-within-dialogue as we looked at above.

Sometimes these dialogue formatting rules are easier to catch later on, during the editing process. When you’re writing, worry less about using the exact dialogue punctuation and more about writing great dialogue that supports your character development and moves the story forward.

How to use dialogue tags

Dialogue tags help identify the speaker. They’re especially important if you have a group of people all talking together, and it can get pretty confusing for the reader trying to keep everybody straight. If you’re using a speech tag after your line of dialogue—he said, she said, and so forth—you’ll end your sentence with a comma, like this:

“No, I stayed home all night,” he said.

But if you’re using an action to identify the person speaking instead, you’ll punctuate the sentence like normal and start a new sentence to describe the action taking place:

“No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet.

The dialogue tags and action tags always follow in the same paragraph. When you move your story lens to a new person, you’ll switch to a new paragraph. Each line where a new person speaks propels the story forward.

When to use capitals in dialogue tags

You may have noticed in the two examples above that one dialogue tag begins with a lowercase letter, and one—which is technically called an action tag—begins with a capital letter. Confusing? The rules are simple once you get a little practice.

When you use a dialogue tag like “he said,” “she said,” “he whispered,” or “she shouted,” you’re using these as modifiers to your sentence—dressing it up with a little clarity. They’re an extension of the sentence the person was speaking. That’s why you separate them with a comma and keep going.

With an action tag , you’re ending one sentence and beginning a whole new one. Each sentence represents two distinct moments in the story. That’s why you end the first sentence with a period, and then open the next one with a capital letter.

If you’re not sure, try reading them out loud:

“No, I stayed home all night,” he said. “No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet.

Since you can’t hear quotation marks out loud, the way you say them will show you if they’re one sentence or two. In the first example, you can hear how the sentence keeps going after the dialogue ends. In the second example, you can hear how one sentence comes to a full stop and another one begins.

But what if your dialogue tag comes before the dialogue, instead of after? In this case, the dialogue is always capitalized because the speaker is beginning a new sentence:

He said, “No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet. “No, I stayed home all night.”

You’ll still use a comma after the dialogue tag and a period after the action tag, just like if you’d separate them if you were putting your tag at the end.

If you’re not sure, ask yourself if your leading tag sounds like a full sentence or a partial sentence. If it sounds like a partial sentence, it gets a comma. If it reads like a full sentence that stands on its own, it gets a period.

External vs. internal dialogue

All of the dialogue we’ve looked at so far is external dialogue, which is directed from one character to another. The other type of dialogue is internal dialogue, or inner dialogue, where a character is talking to themselves. You’ll use this when you want to show what a character is thinking, but other characters can’t hear.

Usually, internal dialogue will be written in italics to distinguish it from the rest of the text. That shows the reader that the line is happening inside the character’s head. For example:

It’s not a big deal, she thought. It’s just a new school. It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.

Here you can see that the dialogue tag is used in the same way, just as if it was a line of external dialogue. However, “she thought” is written in regular text because it’s not a part of what the character is thinking. This helps keep everything clear for the reader.

In your story, you can play with using contrasting internal and external dialogue to show that what your characters say isn’t always what they mean. You may also choose to use this internal dialogue formatting if you’re writing dialogue between two or more characters that isn’t spoken out loud—for instance, telepathically or by sign language.

8 tips for creating engaging dialogue in a story

Now that you’ve mastered the mechanics of how to write dialogue, let’s look at how to create convincing, compelling dialogue that will elevate your story.

1. Listen to people talk

To write convincingly about people, you’ll first need to know something about them. The work of great writers is often characterized by their insight into humanity; you read them and think, “Yes, this is exactly what people are like.” You can begin accumulating your own insight by listening to what real people say to each other.

You can go to any public place where people are likely to gather and converse: cafés, art galleries, political events, dimly lit pubs, bookshops. Record snippets of conversation, pay attention to how people’s voices change as they move from speaking to one person to another, try to imagine what it is they’re not saying, the words simmering just under the surface.

By listening to stories unfold in real time, you’ll have a better idea of how to recreate them in your writing—and inspiration for some new stories, too.

2. Give each spoken line a purpose

Here is something that actors have drilled into their heads from their first day at drama school, and writers would do well to remember it too: every single line of dialogue has a hidden motivation. Every time your character speaks, they’re trying to achieve something, either overtly or covertly.

Small talk is rare in fiction, because it doesn’t advance the plot or reveal something about your characters. The exception is when your characters are using their small talk for a specific purpose, such as to put off talking about the real issue, to disarm someone, or to pretend they belong somewhere they don’t.

When writing your own dialogue, ask yourself what the line accomplishes in the story. If you come up blank, it probably doesn’t need to be there. Words need to earn their place on the page.

3. Embrace subtext

In real life, we rarely say exactly what we really mean. The reality of polite society is that we’ve evolved to speak in circles around our true intentions, afraid of the consequences of speaking our mind. Your characters will be no different. If your protagonist is trying to tell their best friend they’re in love with them, for instance, they’ll come up with about fifty different ways to say it before speaking the deceptively simple words themselves.

To write better dialogue, try exploring different ways of moving your characters around what’s really being said, layering text and subtext side by side. The reader will love picking apart the conversation between your characters and deducing what’s really happening underneath (incidentally, this is also the place where fan fiction is born).

4. Keep names to a minimum

You may notice that on television, in moments of great upheaval, the characters will communicate exactly how important the moment is by saying each other’s names in dramatic bursts of anger/passion/fear/heartbreak/shock. In real life, we say each other’s names very rarely; saying someone’s name out loud can actually be a surprisingly intimate experience.

Names may be a necessary evil right at the beginning of your story so your reader knows who’s who, but after you’ve established your cast, try to include names in dialogue only when it makes sense to do so. If you’re not sure, try reading the dialogue out loud to see if it sounds like something someone would actually say (we’ll talk more about reading out loud below).

5. Prune unnecessary words

This is one area where reality and story differ. In life, dialogue is full of filler words: “Um, uh, well, so yeah, then I was like, erm, huh?” You may have noticed this when you practiced listening to dialogue, above. We won’t say there’s never a place for these words in fiction, but like all words in storytelling, they need to earn their place. You might find filler words an effective tool for showing something about one particular character, or about one particular moment, but you’ll generally find that you use them a lot less than people really do in everyday speech.

When you’re reviewing your characters’ dialogue, remember the hint above: each line needs a purpose. It’s the same for each word. Keep only the ones that contribute something to the story.

6. Vary word choices and rhythms

The greatest dialogue examples in writing use distinctive character voices; each character sounds a little bit different, because they have their own personality.

This can be tricky to master, but an easy way to get started is to look at the word choice and rhythm for each character. You might have one character use longer words and run-on sentences, while another uses smaller words and simple, single-clause sentences. You might have one lean on colloquial regional dialect, where another sounds more cosmopolitan. Play around with different ways to develop characters and give each one their own voice.

7. Be consistent for each character

When you do find a solid, believable voice for your character, make sure that it stays consistent throughout your entire story. It’s easy to set a story aside for a while, then return to it and forget some of the work you did in distinguishing your characters’ dialogue. You might find it helpful to write down some notes about the way each character speaks so you can refer back to it later.

The exception, of course, is if your character’s speech pattern goes through a transformation over the course of the story, like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady . In this case, you can use your character’s distinctive voice to communicate a major change. But as with all things in writing, make sure that it comes from intention and not from forgetfulness.

8. Read your dialogue out loud

After you’ve written a scene between two or more characters, you can take the dialogue for a trial run by speaking it out loud. Ask yourself, does the dialogue sound realistic? Are there any moments where it drags or feels forced? Does the voice feel natural for each character? You’ll often find there are snags you miss in your writing that only become apparent when read out loud. Bonus: this is great practice for when you become rich and famous and do live readings at bookshops.

3 mistakes to avoid when writing dialogue

Easy, right? But there are also a few pitfalls that new writers often encounter when writing dialogue that can drag down an otherwise compelling story. Here are the things to watch out for when crafting your story dialogue.

1. Too much exposition

Exposition is one of the more demanding literary devices , and one of the ones most likely to trip up new writers. Dialogue is a good place to sneak in some information about your story—but subtlety is essential. This is one place where the adage “show, don’t tell” really shines.

Consider these dialogue examples:

“How is she, Doctor?” “Well Mr. Stuffington, I don’t have to remind you that your daughter, the sole heiress to your estate and currently engaged to the Baron of Flippingshire, has suffered a grievous injury when she fell from her horse last Sunday. We don’t need to discuss right now whether or not you think her jealous maid was responsible; what matters is your daughter’s well being. As to your question, I’m afraid it’s very unlikely that she’ll ever walk again.” Can’t you just feel your arm aching to throw the poor book across the room? There’s a lot of important information here, but you can find subtler ways to work it into your story. Let’s try again: “How is she, Doctor?” “Well Mr. Stuffington, your daughter took quite a blow from that horse—worse than we initially thought. I’m afraid it’s very unlikely that she’ll ever walk again.” “And what am I supposed to say to Flippingshire?” “The Baron? I suppose you’ll have to tell him that his future wife has lost the use of her legs.”

And so forth. To create good dialogue exposition, look for little ways to work in the details of your story, instead of piling it up in one great clump.

2. Too much small talk

We looked at how each line of dialogue needs a specific purpose above. Very often small talk in a story happens because the writer doesn’t know what the scene is about. Small talk doesn’t move the scene along unless it’s there for a reason. If you’re not sure, ask yourself what each character wants in this moment.

For example, imagine you’re in an office, and two characters are talking by the water cooler. How was your weekend, what did you think of the game, how’s your wife doing, are those new shoes, etc etc. Can’t you just feel the reader’s will to live slipping away?

But what about this: your characters are talking by the water cooler—Character A and Character B. Character A knows that his friend is inside Character B’s office looking for evidence of corporate espionage, so A is doing everything he can to stop B from going in. How was your weekend, what did you think of the game, how’s your wife doing, are those new shoes, literally anything just to keep him talking. Suddenly these benign little phrases have a purpose.

If you find your characters slipping into small talk, double check that it’s there for a purpose, and not just a crutch to keep you from moving forward in your scene. When writing dialogue, Make each line of dialogue earn its place.

3. Too much repetition

Variation is the spice of a good story. To keep your readers engaged, avoid using the same sentence structure and the same dialogue tags over and over again. Using “he said” and “she said” is effective and clear cut, but only for about three beats. After that, try switching to an action tag instead or letting the line of dialogue stand on its own.

You can also experiment with varying the length of your sentences or groupings of sentences. By changing up the rhythm of your story regularly, you’ll keep it feeling fresh and present for the reader.

Effective dialogue examples from literature

With all of these tips and tricks in mind, let’s look at how other writers have used good dialogue to elevate their stories.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine , by Gail Honeyman

“I’m going to pick up a carryout and head round to my mate Andy’s. A few of us usually hang out there on Saturday nights, fire up the playstation, have a smoke and a few beers.” “Sounds utterly delightful,” I said. “What about you?” he asked. I was going home, of course, to watch a television program or read a book. What else would I be doing? “I shall return to my flat,” I said. “I think there might be a documentary about komodo dragons on BBC4 later this evening.”

In this dialogue example, the author gives her characters two very distinctive voices. From just a few words we can begin to see these people very clearly in our minds—and with this distinction comes the tension that drives the story. Dialogue is an excellent place to show your character dynamics using speech patterns and word choices.

Pride and Prejudice , by Jane Austen

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?” Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. “But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.” Mr. Bennet made no answer. “Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently. “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.” This was invitation enough. “Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

In this famous dialogue example, the author illustrates the relationship between these two characters clearly and succinctly. Their dialogue shows Mr. B’s stalwart, tolerant love for his wife and Mrs. B’s excitement and propensity for gossip. The author shows us everything we need to know about these people in just a few lines.

Dinner in Donnybrook , by Maeve Binchy

“Look, I thought you ought to know, we’ve had a very odd letter from Carmel.” “A what… from Carmel?” “A letter. Yes, I know it’s sort of out of character, I thought maybe something might be wrong and you’d need to know…” “Yes, well, what did she say, what’s the matter with her?” “Nothing, that’s the problem, she’s inviting us to dinner.” “To dinner?” “Yes, it’s sort of funny, isn’t it? As if she wasn’t well or something. I thought you should know in case she got in touch with you.” “Did you really drag me all the way down here, third years are at the top of the house you know, I thought the house had burned down! God, wait till I come home to you. I’ll murder you.” “The dinner’s in a month’s time, and she says she’s invited Ruth O’Donnell.” “Oh, Jesus Christ.”

This dialogue example is a telephone conversation between two people. The lack of dialogue tags or action tags allows the words to come to the forefront and immerses us in their back-and-forth conversation. Even though there are no tags to indicate the speakers, the language is simple and straightforward enough that the reader always knows who’s talking. Through this conversation the author slowly builds the tension from the benign to the catastrophic within a domestic setting.

Compelling dialogue is the key to a good story

A writer has a lot riding on their characters’ dialogue, and learning how to write dialogue is a critical skill for any writer. When done well, it can leaves a lasting impact on the reader. But when dialogue is clumsy and awkward, it can drag your story down and make your reader feel like they’re wasting their time.

But if you keep these tips in mind, listen to dialogue in your everyday life, and practice , you’ll be sure to create realistic dialogue that brings your story to life.

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How To Punctuate Dialogue: 11 Rules To Write It Like A Pro

Writing a good story is hard enough without having to worry about your dialogue punctuation .

Our goal in this post is to answer any questions you might have about punctuating dialogue.

One of the main issues with this is knowing the difference between a dialogue tag and an action beat .

With the widespread confusion between the two, it’s high time we spell out some clear rules for commas in dialogue. 

When you’re done reading this, you’ll know what belongs where and why.

And your editor will love you for it.

How Do You Write Dialogue Correctly? 

First of all, there are two reasons why you need to know the rules for punctuation in dialogue: 

#1: Incorrect dialogue will distract your reader and detract from your story. 

And while a good editor can fix those mistakes, it’s better to recognize them yourself.

As a writer , you’re always learning how to hone your craft. Correct punctuation is part of that. 

#2: How you punctuate your dialogue affects how that dialogue sounds in your reader’s head. 

Think of ellipses and dashes. Aside from how they’re used, the presence of each of these makes a character’s words sound different.

And when they’re misused or in a way that creates awkward or artificial pauses, they’ll pull your reader right out of the story . 

Much depends on how you punctuate your dialogue. Keep in mind the following benefits of getting it right: 

• Your editor will sincerely appreciate your grasp of dialogue punctuation.
• Your readers will also appreciate the lack of distracting punctuation errors.
• Your characters will sound as you intend them to sound in your reader’s head.

How to Punctuate Dialogue: 11 Essential Rules

Look through the following 11 scenarios with their rules and examples to better understand punctuation for each dialogue situation you’re likely to face. 

1. Action Beats

Let’s start with the distinction between two things often confused with each other: 

• Dialogue tags — like “they said”
• Action beats — like “they laughed/smiled/glowered, etc.”

The two are not interchangeable. While you can link together dialogue and a dialogue tag with a comma, action beats are separated with a period. 

Since action beats often come after a piece of dialogue, the distinction becomes clearer when you try to move it to the front: 

• Incorrect: “Of course, you didn’t,” he laughed.
• Incorrect: He laughed, “Of course, you didn’t.”
• Correct: “Of course, you didn’t.” He laughed
• Correct: He laughed. “Of course, you didn’t.” 

2. Ending Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags tell the reader who’s talking and, sometimes, how they’re expressing the words (e.g., shouted, whispered, droned, etc.). 

Anytime you put a tag after a piece of dialogue, place a comma (or question/exclamation mark) inside the ending quotation marks, as you’ll see in the examples below. 

• Incorrect: “You’ll never know more than that.” She said.
• Incorrect: “You’ll never know more than that”, she said.
• Correct: “You’ll never know more than that,” she said.

3. Beginning Dialogue Tags

When the dialogue tag comes before the dialogue, separate them with a comma placed after the tag. 

• Incorrect: He smiled and said. “I knew it.”
• Incorrect: He smiled and said “I knew it.”
• Correct: He smiled and said, “I knew it.”

Notice the capitalization in dialogue doesn’t change even when it comes after a tag. Inside the quotes, each sentence is capitalized independently of the rest of the sentence. 

4. Mid-Sentence Dialogue Tags

When the dialogue tag comes between two pieces of dialogue, your punctuation will depend on the sentence or sentences being separated by the tag. 

• Incorrect: “I should have known,” she said, “He did warn me.”  (Run-on sentence)
• Correct: “I should have known,” she said. “He did warn me.”
• Correct: “It’s up there,” he said, “in the treehouse.” 
• (Technically) Incorrect: “It’s up there,” he said. “In the treehouse.” (Fragment)

In the last example, most readers won’t mind if you put a period after the tag. The rules for sentence fragments are more relaxed when it comes to dialogue since people speak in fragments all the time. 

5. Dialogue without Tags

Dialogue without tags is punctuated just as you might expect — with all ending punctuation staying inside the quotation marks. 

• Incorrect: “I’ll be waiting outside”.
• Correct: “I’ll be waiting outside.”
• Incorrect: “You’ll never catch me”!
• Correct: “You’ll never catch me!”
• Incorrect: “Are there any treenuts in this”?
• Correct: “Are there any treenuts in this?”

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6. Speaker Changes

Create a new line (or paragraph) each time the speaker changes. Make sure the previous line of dialogue ends with a quotation mark. 

Incorrect: She turned and said, “I’m not going with you.” “Why not?” he asked. 

Correct: 

She turned and said, “I’m not going with you.” 

“Why not?” he asked. 

7. Multiple Paragraphs of Dialogue with the Same Speaker

When a speaker’s dialogue spans multiple paragraphs, leave off the ending quotation mark until the dialogue comes to an end.

Begin each new paragraph of continuing dialogue with a quotation mark, as you see in the example below:

Example: 

She sat down at the table. “You know why I have to do this. After everything I’ve done, there’s no other way to fix it.

And it’s on me. I’m the one who wrote that letter and sent it. That’s why we’re in this mess.

“And yes, there’s a risk. This could go very badly, especially for me. But who more than I should pay the price if it does?

Just promise you won’t follow me, all right? Promise! I need you here with the others. I need to know they’ll be safe.” 

8. Indirect Dialogue

Indirect dialogue is dialogue quoted or referenced by someone else. In this case, you’ll only put that dialogue in quotes if the narrator or speaker is quoting it verbatim.

If they’re paraphrasing another’s words, quotation marks aren’t necessary. 

Examples: 

• I knew exactly what he meant when he said he’d be back with an old friend. 
• I knew exactly what he meant when he said, “I won’t come back alone. I’ll bring someone we both trust.”

9. Quotes within Dialogue

When you have a quote within dialogue — i.e., one speaker is quoting another — the correct way to set off the quoted words is with the opposite type of quotation marks: 

• Single quotes if the parent quote is in double quotation marks
• Double quotes if the parent quote is in single quotation marks
• “She’s in the shower right now, singing, ‘Mad World,’ off-key.”
• “He left a note that said, ‘I’m so sick of hearing you say, “Not my problem”!’”

When a question mark or exclamation point appears outside a quotation mark, it applies to the larger sentence or quote. 

• “I cannot believe she said, ‘He’s better off without you’!”
• “Did he really say, ‘I’m going without you’?”

10. Internal Dialogue

Internal dialogue refers to dialogue happening inside a character’s head. There are two distinct types: 

• Example: “He stood at the top of the stairs watching her collect her things from her locker. In just a few seconds, she’d be heading up, and he’d have the perfect opportunity.”
• Example: “He stood at the top of the stairs watching her collect her things from her locker. Just a few seconds more, he thought, and she’ll be heading up. I’m ready for this. I can do this!”

11. Ellipses and Dashes

Some punctuation has more to do with the mood you want to set than with obeying a set of rules.

While commas can help create brief pauses by breaking up a sentence, sometimes you want a longer pause. And sometimes, you want to speed things up. 

This is why we have ellipses and dashes, which, when carefully used, can make your dialogue sound more natural and convey a specific mood: 

• Ellipses (…) show pauses or lapses in thought. 
• Dashes ( — ) show an interruption and can convey a sense of urgency.

How you use these will affect how the dialogue sounds in your reader’s head. 

• “You didn’t… I thought you were going to… What happened?” (vs. “You didn’t. I thought you were going to. What happened?”)
• “Ummm… Yeah. This is a bad time. I’m just… gonna go.” (vs. “Ummm, yeah, this is a bad time. I’m just gonna go.”)
• She shook her head. “I just thought—” “—You thought what? That I already knew?” He threw the book out the window.

Dashes can also create longer pauses or set apart something that needs stronger emphasis: 

• “She packed them this morning — one for each of us — because she knew you’d forget.”

How Do You Punctuate Dialogue? More Questions and Examples 

#1 — You’ve seen dialogue tags between lines of dialogue. But how do you put dialogue in the middle of a sentence? Look to the following examples for an answer. 

• He smiled and said, “You came,” gently taking her hand. 
• She ran to the edge, screaming, “Don’t let it touch you!” before diving into the river.
• “I knew you were onto me when you said, ‘He’s as green as they get,’ but you let me come anyway.” 

#2 — How do you punctuate a dialogue question?

If the words between the quotation marks pose the question, the question mark belongs there, too — right at the end of the question and before the quotation mark. 

• I walked up to him and took his hand. “When did you get here?”
• “Is this a regular thing around here?” he asked. 

When the question is posed by the larger sentence or line of dialogue, the question mark goes outside the quotation marks for the embedded quote, as you see in these examples: 

• “When is he going to say, ‘Time’s up’? The suspense is killing me!”
• “Is he the one standing in front of the sign that reads, ‘Wait here’?”

Are you ready to properly punctuate dialogue in your next book?

Now that you’ve looked through these 11 rules on punctuating dialogue, which has stood out for you the most? Most writers have at least one nagging question when it comes to punctuation. 

If we’ve helped you answer one of them, we’ll consider the time and energy writing this post well spent. We look forward to hearing about how much your editors love you. 

The more you put into developing your craft, the more your readers will love you, too. 

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How to Format Dialogue in a Story

Last Updated: December 23, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diya Chaudhuri, PhD . Diya Chaudhuri holds a PhD in Creative Writing (specializing in Poetry) from Georgia State University. She has over 5 years of experience as a writing tutor and instructor for both the University of Florida and Georgia State University. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 452,324 times.

Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, satire or drama, writing the dialogue may have its challenges. The parts of a story where characters speak stand out from the other elements of a story, starting with the quotation marks that are nearly universally applied. Here are some of the most common and established steps for making sure that your story looks right when you have to figure out how to properly format dialogue.

Things You Should Know

• Break and indent paragraphs involving 2 or more speakers.
• Use quotation marks around all words spoken by a character.
• Break a long speech into multiple paragraphs.

Getting the Punctuation Right

• Even if a speaker only utters half a syllable before they’re interrupted by someone else, that half-syllable still gets its own indented paragraph.
• In English, dialogue is read from the left side of the page to the right, so the first thing readers notice when looking at a block of text is the white space on the left margin. [2] X Research source

• A single set of quotation marks can include multiple sentences, as long as they are spoken in the same portion of dialogue. For example: Evgeny argued, "But Laura didn’t have to finish her dinner! You always give her special treatment!"
• When a character quotes someone else, use double-quotes around what your character says, then single-quotes around the speech they’re quoting. For example: Evgeny argued, “But you never yell ‘Finish your dinner’ at Laura!”
• The reversal of roles for the single and double-quotation mark is common outside of American writing. Many European and Asian languages use angle brackets (<< >>) to mark dialogue instead.

• Use a comma to separate the dialogue tag from the dialogue.
• If the dialogue tag precedes the dialogue, the comma appears before the opening quotation mark: Evgeny argued, “But Laura didn’t have to finish her dinner!”
• If the dialogue tag comes after the dialogue, the comma appears before (inside) the closing quotation mark: “But Laura didn’t have to finish her dinner,” argued Evgeny.
• If the dialogue tag interrupts the flow of a sentence of dialogue, use a pair of commas that follows the previous two rules: “But Laura,” Evgeny argued, “never has to finish her dinner!”

• If the question or exclamation ends the dialogue, do not use commas to separate the dialogue from dialogue tags. For example: "Why did you order mac-and-cheese pizza for dinner?" Fatima asked in disbelief.

• For example, use a dash to indicate an abruptly ended speech: "What are y--" Joe began.
• You can also use dashes to indicate when one person's dialogue is interrupted by another's: "I just wanted to tell you--" "Don't say it!" "--that I prefer Rocky Road ice cream."
• Use ellipses when a character has lost her train of thought or can't figure out what to say: "Well, I guess I mean..."

• For example: Evgeny argued, "But Laura didn’t have to finish her dinner!" The “b” of “But” does not technically begin the sentence, but it begins a sentence in the world of the dialogue, so it is capitalized.
• However, if the first quoted word isn’t the first word of a sentence, don’t capitalize it: Evgeny argued that Laura “never has to finish her dinner!”

• Use an opening quotation mark where you normally would, but don’t place one at the end of the first paragraph of the character’s speech. The speech isn’t over yet, so you don’t punctuate it like it is!
• Do, however, place another opening quotation mark at the beginning of the next paragraph of speech. This indicates that this is a continuation of the speech from the previous paragraph.
• Place your closing quotation mark wherever the character’s speech ends, as you normally would.

Making Your Dialogue Flow Naturally

• When you have a long dialogue that’s clearly being held between only two people, you can choose to leave out the dialogue tags entirely. In this case, you would rely on your paragraph breaks and indentations to let the reader know which character is speaking.
• You should leave out the dialogue tags when more than two characters are speaking only if you intend for the reader to be potentially confused about who is speaking. For example, if four characters are arguing with one another, you may want the reader to get the sense that they’re just hearing snatches of argument without being able to tell who’s speaking. The confusion of leaving out dialogue tags could help accomplish this.

• Place dialogue tags in the middle of a sentence, interrupting the sentence, to change the pacing of your sentence. Because you have to use two commas to set the dialogue tag apart (see Step 3 in the previous section), your sentence will have two pauses in the middle of the spoken sentence: “And how exactly,” Laura muttered under her breath, “do you plan on accomplishing that?”

• Some examples of pronouns include I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, and so on.
• Pronouns must always agree with the number and gender of the nouns they’re referring to. [9] X Research source [10] X Research source
• For example, the only appropriate pronouns to replace “Laura” are singular, feminine ones: she, her, hers, herself.
• The only appropriate pronouns to replace “Laura and Evgeny” are plural, gender neutral ones (because English loses gender when pluralized): they, their, theirs, themselves, them.

Community Q&A

• Remember that less is often more. One common mistake that writers make when creating dialogue is to write things in longer sentences than people would actually say them. For example, most people use contractions and drop inessential words in everyday conversation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Be very careful if you attempt to include an accent in your dialogue. Often, this will necessitate extra punctuation to show accent sounds ( danglin' instead of dangling , for example), and can end up visually overwhelming your reader. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_33_85.html
• ↑ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white%20space
• ↑ https://stlcc.edu/student-support/academic-success-and-tutoring/writing-center/writing-resources/quotation-marks-dialogue.aspx
• ↑ https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/how-to-write-dialogue/tags/
• ↑ http://learn.lexiconic.net/dialoguepunctuation.htm
• ↑ http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000106.htm
• ↑ http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/propernoun.htm
• ↑ http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp
• ↑ http://facweb.furman.edu/~moakes/Powerwrite/pronouns.htm
• ↑ https://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/Pronouns.pdf

About This Article

To format dialogue in a story, insert a paragraph break and indent every time a new speaker starts talking. Then, put what they’re saying inside a set of double quotation marks. If you're using a dialogue tag, like "She said" or "He asked," follow it with a comma if it comes before the dialogue or a period if it comes after. Also, remember to put periods, question marks, and exclamation points inside the quotation marks. For more tips from our Creative Writing co-author, like how to write good, convincing dialogue, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Last updated on Sep 21, 2023

How to Write Fabulous Dialogue [9 Tips + Examples]

This post is written by author, editor, and bestselling ghostwriter Tom Bromley. He is the  instructor of Reedsy's 101-day course,  How to Write a Novel .

Good dialogue isn’t about quippy lines and dramatic pauses.

Good dialogue is about propelling the story forward, pulling the reader along, and fleshing out characters and their dynamics in front of readers. Well-written dialogue can take your story to a new level — you just have to unlock it.

In this article, I’ll break down the major steps of writing great dialogue, and provide exercises for you to practice your own dialogue on.

Here's how to write great dialogue in 9 steps:

1. Use quotation marks to signal speech

2. pace dialogue lines by three , 3. use action beats , 4. use ‘said’ as a dialogue tag  , 5. write scene-based dialogue, 6. model any talk on real life , 7. differentiate character voices, 8. "show, don't tell" information in conversation , 9. delete superfluous words, which dialogue tag are you.

Find out in just a minute.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.”

Similarly, I could say that good dialogue in a novel is a real conversation without all the fluff — and with quotation marks. 

Imagine, for instance, if every scene with dialogue in your novel started out with:

'Hey, buddy! How are you doing?"

“Great! How are you?""

'Great! Long time no see! Parking was a nightmare, wasn’t it?"

Firstly, from a technical perspective, the quotation marks are inconsistent and incorrectly formatted. To learn about the mechanics of your dialogue and how to format it, we also wrote this full post on the topic that I recommend reading.

Secondly, from a novel perspective, such lines don’t add anything to the story. And finally, from a reading perspective, your readers will not want to sit through this over and over again. Readers are smart: they can infer that all these civilities occur. Which means that you can skip the small talk (unless it’s important to the story) to get to the heart of the dialogue from the get-go.  

For a more tangible example of this technique, check out the dialogue-driven opening to Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Unsheltered .

Screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb once proposed an idea called the “Three-Beat Rule.” What this recommends, essentially, is to introduce a maximum of three dialogue “beats” (the short phrases in speech you can say without pausing for breath) at a time. Only after these three dialogue beats should you insert a dialogue tag, action beat, or another character’s speech.

Here’s an example from Jane Gardam’s short story, “Dangers”, in which the boy Jake is shooting an imaginary gun at his grandmother:

In theory, this sounds simple enough. In practice, however, it’s a bit more complicated than that, simply because dialogue conventions continue to change over time. There’s no way to condense “good dialogue” into a formula of three this, or two that. But if you’re just starting out and need a strict rule to help you along, then the Three-Beat Rule is a good place to begin experimenting.

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Let’s take a look at another kind of “beats” now — action beats.

Action beats are the descriptions of the expressions, movements, or even internal thoughts that accompany the speaker’s words. They’re always included in the same paragraph as the dialogue, so as to indicate that the person acting is also the person speaking.

On a technical level, action beats keep your writing varied, manage the pace of a dialogue-heavy scene, and break up the long list of lines ending in ‘he said’ or ‘she said’.

But on a character level, action beats are even more important because they can go a level deeper than dialogue and illustrate a character’s body language.

When we communicate, dialogue only forms a half of how we get across what we want to say. Body language is that missing half — which is why action beats are so important in visualizing a conversation, and can help you “show” rather than “tell” in writing.

Here’s a quick exercise to practice thinking about body language in the context of dialogue: imagine a short scene, where you are witnessing a conversation between two people from the opposite side of a restaurant or café. Because it’s noisy and you can’t hear what they are saying, describe the conversation through the use of body language only.

Remember, at the end of the day, action beats and spoken dialogue are partners in crime. These beats are a commonly used technique so you can find plenty of examples —  here’s one from  Never Let Me Go  by Kazuo Ishiguro . 

If there’s one golden rule in writing dialogue, it’s this: ‘said’ is your friend.

Yes, ‘said’ is nothing new. Yes, ‘said’ is used by all other authors out there already. But you know what? There’s a reason why ‘said’ is the king of dialogue tags: it works.

Pro-tip: While we cannot stress enough the importance of "said," sometimes you do need another dialogue tag. Download this free cheatsheet of 270+ other words for said to get yourself covered!

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Upgrade your dialogue with our list of 270 alternatives to “said.”

The thinking goes that ‘said’ is so unpretentious, so unassuming that it focuses readers’ attention on what’s most important on the page: the dialogue itself. As writer Elmore Leonard puts it: 

“Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But ‘said’ is far less intrusive than ‘grumbled,’ ‘gasped,’ ‘cautioned,’ ‘lied.’”

It might be tempting at times to turn towards other words for ‘said’ such as ‘exclaimed,’ or ‘declared,’ but my general rule of thumb is that in 90% of scenarios, ‘said’ is going to be the most effective dialogue tag for you to use while writing dialogue.

So now that we have several guidelines in place, this is a good spot to pause, reflect, and say that there’s no wrong or right way to write dialogue. It depends on the demands of the scene, the characters, and the story. Great dialogue isn’t about following this or that rule — but rather learning what technique to use when . 

If you stick to one rule the whole time — i.e. if you only use ‘said,’ or you finish every dialogue line with an action beat — you’ll wear out readers. Let’s see how unnaturally it plays out in the example below with Sophie and Ethan: 

All of which is to say: don’t be afraid to make exceptions to the rule if the scene asks for it. The key is to know when to switch up your dialogue structure or use of dialogue tags or action beats throughout a scene — and by extension, throughout your book.

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Dialogue isn’t always about writing grammatically perfect prose. The way a person speaks reflects the way a person is — and not all people are straight-A honor students who speak in impeccable English. In real life, the way people talk is fragmented, and punctuated by pauses.

That’s something that you should also keep in mind when you’re aiming to write authentic dialogue.

It can be tempting to think to yourself, “ Oh, I’ll try and slip in some exposition into my dialogue here to reveal important background information.” But if that results in an info-dump such as this — “ I’m just going to the well, Mother — the well that my brother, your son, tragically fell down five years ago ” — then you’ll probably want to take a step back and find a more organic, timely, and digestible way to incorporate that into your story.

Kay Adams is Michael’s date at his sister’s wedding in this scene. Her interest in his family is natural enough that the expository conversation doesn’t feel shoehorned in. 

A distinctive voice for each character is perhaps the most important element to get right in dialogue. Just as no one person in the world talks the same as each other, no one person in your book should also talk similarly.

To get this part of writing dialogue down pat, you need to start out by knowing your characters inside out. How does your character talk? Do they come with verbal quirks? Non-verbal quirks?

Jay Gatsby’s “old sport,” for example, gives him a distinctive, recognizable voice. It stands out because no one else has something as memorable about their speech. But more than that, it reveals something valuable about Gatsby’s character: he’s trying to impersonates a gentleman in his speech and lifestyle.

Likewise, think carefully about your character’s voice, and use catchphrases and character quirks when they can say something about your character. 

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“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most oft-repeated rules in writing, and a conversation on the page can be a gold mine for “showing.”

Authors can use action beats and descriptions to provide clues for readers to read between the lines. Let’s revisit Sophie and Ethan in this example:

While Sophie claims she hasn’t been obsessing over this project all night, the actions in between her words indicate there’s nothing on her mind  but  work. The result is that you show , through the action beats vs. the dialogue, Sophie being hardworking—rather than telling it.

Show, Don't Tell

Master the golden rule of writing in 10 five-minute lessons.

As always when it comes to writing a novel: all roads lead back to The Edit, and the dialogue you’ve written is no exception.

So while you’re editing your novel at the end, you may find that a “less is more” mentality will be helpful. Remember to cut out the unnecessary bits of dialogue, so that you can focus on making sure the dialogue you  do  keep matters. Good writing is intentional and purposeful, always striving to keep the story going and readers engaged. The importance lies in quality rather than quantity. 

One point I haven’t addressed yet is repetition. If used well (i.e. with clear intention), repetition is a  literary device  that can help you build motifs in your writing. But when you find yourself repeating information in your dialogue, it might be a good time to revise your work. 

For instance, here’s a scene with Sophie and Ethan later on in the story: 

As I’ve mentioned before, good dialogue shows character — and dialogue itself is a playground where character dynamics play out. If you write and edit your dialogue with this in mind, then your dialogue will be sharper, cleaner, and more organic. 

I know that writing dialogue can be intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice — especially with the help of these tips — the better you’ll get.

And once you’re confident with the conversational content you can conjure up, follow along to the next part of our guide to see how you can punctuate and format your dialogue flawlessly .

As an editor and publisher, Tom has worked on several hundred titles, again including many prize-winners and international bestsellers. 

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7 dialogue rules for writing fantastic conversations

Dialogue rules aren’t set in stone but help us create believable characters who have distinct, memorable voices. The best dialogue gives insights into characters and their motivations. Getting dialogue punctuation right is important, as is keeping dialogue entertaining. Here are 7 dialogue rules for writing conversations worthy of eavesdropping:

• Post author By Bridget McNulty
• 28 Comments on 7 dialogue rules for writing fantastic conversations

Dialogue rules aren’t set in stone but help us create believable characters who have distinct, memorable voices. The best dialogue gives insights into characters and their motivations. Getting dialogue punctuation right is important, as is keeping dialogue entertaining. Here are 7 dialogue rules for writing conversations worthy of eavesdropping:

1: Learn dialogue rules for good punctuation

Before you can write conversations that bristle with tension or brim with excitement, you need to master the rules for punctuating dialogue. [Below is a brief guide but our 4-week course covers much more. At the end, you’ll submit a piece of dialogue incorporating what you’ve learned for professional critique. Learn more. ]

Rule 1: Remember to open and close speech marks to set dialogue apart from surrounding narration.

At the end of a line of dialogue, if you use a dialogue tag, remember to use a comma before ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ instead of a full stop. The tag is still part of the same sentence. This is a mistake we often see in beginner authors’ critique submissions on Now Novel. An example of good dialogue punctuation:

“I wish you would use a comma and not a full stop before your dialogue tag,” she grumbled.

The second rule: If a character’s speech is interrupted by a dialogue tag or action, close and re-open speech marks.

Commas before the dialogue tag always go inside the quoted speech, just before the closing quotation mark. Here’s an example:

“I wish you would stop interrupting,” she said, holding up her palm, “and let me finish!”

The third rule: Always start a new paragraph when a different character starts speaking. This way it’s clear who says what in a scene involving two or more characters.

“I wasn’t interr-“

“There you go again.” She glared.

The fourth rule: If one character speaks over multiple paragraphs, only close quotation marks at the end of the final paragraph.

This is used when a character has a long monologue, such as when retelling an event or story. This prevents the reader from erroneously thinking a new character has started talking. An example:

“There you go again.” She glared. “As I was saying, I’ve told you the rules of dialogue before but you keep forgetting.

“Where was I? I can see from your face you think I’m being unnecessarily hars- no, don’t interrupt again.”

2: Keep dialogue tags to a minimum

As a rule, if you can establish who is speaking and how they are speaking without dialogue tags, avoid them. Compare the following:

“I thought you said you were arriving a four,” he said angrily, his face thunderous.

He stood scowling, his arms crossed. “I thought you said you were arriving at four?”

Because the character action (the character stands in a posture suggestive of anger or frustration) precedes the dialogue, you don’t need to attribute the words in the second example. It’s clear the man with folded arms says the cross, rebuking words. Gesture, action and body language mid-dialogue supplies subtext , implied meaning.

Where possible, minimize dialogue tags using body language and gesture instead. This helps us to hear a character mid-conversation and see them too. This is one way to make dialogue more vivid.

3: Cut out filler words that make dialogue too lifelike

You might be thinking, ‘Hold on, surely dialogue should be lifelike?’ Dialogue in a story differs from real-world conversation, though.

In real life we repeat ourselves sometimes. We exchange pleasantries before we get to the real core of what we want to talk about. In writing fiction, you can get to the crux of a great conversation faster . Filler words may be true to life, but don’t bore the reader.

The difference between dialogue in life and dialogue in stories is that in stories, you need to cut day-to-day conversation that is extraneous or irrelevant. Even if you are showing a romantic duo engaged in an intimate, ordinary moment, let your characters’ personalities, fears, motivations and desires come through in their words.

For example, a bland everyday scene could run as follows:

I heard the key in the front door. It was him. “Hi, love. How was your day?” “Good thanks and yours?” “It was fine thank you,” I reply.

Instead, something more interesting could proceed as follows:

I heard the key turn in the front door. He stomped in and threw his bag down. “Bad day, huh?” He shrugged, grimacing while making a beeline for the kitchen. “It was fine,” came his voice, sounding too measured. Something was clearly up.

In the latter example, there’s immediately a sense of story. Surrounding the dialogue are actions (the throwing down of the bag and the anxious worrying of the viewpoint character) that make the dialogue pregnant with a sense of event.

Cut out filler words and instead focus on finding the emotional core of each conversation in your story. What does it show about your characters and their circumstances?

The above example could show that the viewpoint character is anxious and confused because her significant other is failing to communicate something bothering him. Most importantly, it shows us that there is a revelation of some kind in waiting – it drives the story forwards by making us ask, ‘what happened?’ and ‘what will happen next?’

4: Give readers vital story information through dialogue

Good dialogue consists of engaging or illuminating conversations. It often helps us understand characters’ strengths and limitations, goals and obstacles .

Beginning writers who aren’t practiced with writing conversations often create exchanges that make the story meander rather than get to a destination.

When you write any piece of dialogue, write down answers to the following questions before you start:

• What do I want my dialogue to tell readers about my characters’ personalities?
• How will my dialogue to tell readers about my characters’ present situation?
• What future expectations or questions will the reader have about the story’s plot because of this conversation?

Asking questions about your dialogue will help you learn how to write good dialogue. Purposeful dialogue that adds depth to characters while entertaining will keep readers interested.

5: Show characters’ surrounds while they talk

Remember that tone and mood are essential components of a story . If your characters seem to speak in a vacuum, their exchanges will feel dry and bland.

If your characters are meeting in a restaurant, for example, use this setting to your advantage. Perhaps service staff could interrupt to take their order at a key point, when you are just about to release a vital piece of information answering a question the reader has been harbouring. This device would help create a more suspenseful mood. Involve readers in the emotional crux of your scene by bringing your characters’ surroundings into their conversation.

6: Don’t always make characters say exactly what they feel

If you think about real people, everyone tells little lies from time to time. We might feel awful and walk into a social occasion with a broad grin, not wanting to dampen the mood. There are hundreds of ways to say ‘I feel terrible’, including ‘I feel great’ – it’s the way you say things that matters.

Making a character’s words at odds with their body language  can be effective for characterizing your novel’s cast. A character might have a motivation for not showing any vulnerability in a situation, and thus might grin and be outwardly jovial. You can show the chinks in their armour using body language and small actions, such as fidgeting. This is why it is important to not only use characters’ voices and words but their bodies and movements in dialogue too.

7: Remember context in dialogue (the reason for the conversation)

To make your dialogue interesting, remember that fantastic dialogue lets us see the ‘why’ behind it. Dialogue involves context (and infers subtext).

Two romantic leads might fight over doing chores, or what to do over their weekend. Yet the dialogue should tap into the underlying subtext. Why this fight, and why at this moment in the story? Perhaps one character has realised the other does not fulfill them on a fundamental level.

Think about dialogue at multiple scales: Think about what’s going on immediately in this scene, right now. Yet also think about where its roots lie in prior actions and scenes and how your characters’ words can reveal glimpses of these roots to the reader or viewer.

Which authors do you think write the most fantastic dialogue?

Read our tips on creating natural and realistic dialogue.

Get feedback on your dialogue in our critique community , or one-on-one feedback and guidance from an experienced editor.

Related Posts:

• Writing dialogue: 7 ways to write better conversations
• 7 essential rules for writing dialogue
• Writing conversations using setting (examples)
• Tags dialogue rules , dialogue tips , how to write dialogue

By Bridget McNulty

Bridget McNulty is a published author, content strategist, writer, editor and speaker. She is the co-founder of two non-profits: Sweet Life Diabetes Community, South Africa's largest online diabetes community, and the Diabetes Alliance, a coalition of all the organisations working in diabetes in South Africa. She is also the co-founder of Now Novel: an online novel-writing course where she coaches aspiring writers to start - and finish! - their novels. Bridget believes in the power of storytelling to create meaningful change.

28 replies on “7 dialogue rules for writing fantastic conversations”

Good post. I was rewriting the first chapter (can’t remember the editing that was done) and since I lost all that was edited (used some horrendous app called Scrivener) I thought that I may start with a dialogue, this way I can cut the superfluous and bring some ‘life’ into the picture and draw the reader without bogging them down with descriptions.

Sounds like an excellent plan, Elizabeth. I’m sorry to hear about your Scrivener mishap!

I tried Scrivener too. Whilst I didn’t experience any tragedies like yours I didn’t find it intuitive and felt I spent more of my time trying to get to grips with software too complex for my needs than writing. In the end I went back to Word, and I now use Powerpoint for my planning/plotting – simply a slide per chapter with a few lines of summary and colour coded to indicate character appearances, plot lines and locations. It’s a little more manual but I have complete control and didn’t need to learn anything

Thanks for tne neat idea (I’ll try it) Scrivener is not what it portraits to be. Lot’s of reviewers receive the app for a review and there’s a lot of ‘good’ reviews from people commissioned to write the stuff. Matter of fact, among many others so called good reviews I found one that a programmer turned into writer–scrivener average consumer–stated that after two years he thought he knew scrivener but found out he didn’t. While he thought this was a good review, since scrivener is supposed to be an alitist gadget for the people in the know, his review only tells you of the inneficience of this app.

Scrivener promises the skies but give you hell with all the shock and traumas of the experience. My advise, if you are a writer, stay away, away as much as possible from Scrivener (if for no other reason, an app has control of your files and all it takes is a mischievous or ill intend employee to decided “hey I’m going to wipe out all her stuff’.

Thanks Neil for sharing your idea of using power point with us.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6471bed13c5251ba00f34a4ede003830c3f3f04589b37299902ebcbddeac69a6.jpg

Sorry for your “lost”. Its incredible Scrivener did that. I used once, and really don´t like it (to complicate and “no look nice to me”/many distraction to my eyes). I use «YWrite.5» its free and very intuitive writer´s programm; and it does a back up which is saving in your PC in a separate file ( I used to do an extra copy of that on pc and USB). I been used it for almost 2.5 years and never gave me a problem. I really love it. Its very complete for write scenes and chapters. You can add any note you wanted even pics to “inspiration” your places, characters and items. Have many special windows to create everything you need for your writing work. (including planning/plots).

Use Word/Power Point means jump between windows/programs. I got all in one screen (page) front of me, with just a click. By the way, write in Word can be chaotic when you must to “fund” something in particular, specially if is a long novel. *Mine now have more than 300,000 words* If you wants gave it a change to this light (weight) but *huge programm check it on this link (www.spacejocks/yWriter.html) *His creator is a programmer and writer! You can regist or not your account. I didn´t and nothing happens if I dont.

For me, is the best. I dont wants change it ever. And its FREE! too amazing to be so complete, for that I recommend it for anyone I think can be useful. P.S.: Sorry for my english, is not my mother lenguage.

Great idea to use Powerpoint that way, Neil. I think finding an approach that suits your working style makes complete sense.

Thank you! Great tips!

Thank you Alessandra, it’s a pleasure. Thanks for reading.

Thanks, Bridget for this discussion. Each time I read your post , I have this feeling I am in a school. So much education goes on as I get enlightened because of the wealth of information that you share.It is done with such clarity and in an so interesting manner too.

See how you began with little details such as the rules of punctuating dialogue. I always have to take notes . Your material is so rich. I will use your tips to make my WIP better.

Thank you for the kind words, Ohita. I’m glad you’re finding each post helpful.

Great piece! I can definitely see where I can infuse these suggestions into my piece! Thanks so much.

It’s a pleasure, Morgan! All the best for your work-in-progress.

Fantastic piece. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Thank you Ger, glad you enjoyed it.

Terrific article! I appreciate your ideas and tips. Keep writing, Bridget.

Thank you, Shon! Glad you’re enjoying reading them.

Just came to revist the post. Concise and straight to the point. I enjoyed. Thank you.

Thank you, Elizabeth! Glad you enjoyed reading this.

I wrote in spanish, which means, the estructure is different than english. But I´m been very intuitive to write dialogues. (People use to say, that I got my straight on those). I´m so happy fund your advises, because just confirm I been doing good! And I will read all “dialogues” series your wrote. Thanks you so much.

In the following example which you give, I think the question mark at the end is wrong, as no question is actually asked. This crime is commonly committed nowadays. Some may say there is an “implied question”, but I maintain that an “implied question” (even if we accurately deduce it) requires a corresponding “implied question mark” – not a written one!

‘He stood scowling, his arms crossed. “I thought you said you were arriving at four?”’

I think the following is correct –

He stood scowling, his arms crossed. “I thought you said you were arriving at four!”

You raised an interesting grey area. Far from being ‘wrong’, however, or a ‘crime’, an implied question semantically has the inflection of a question, and thus a question mark may be used to draw attention to the fact the speaker is awaiting an answer (that their words are not intended as a statement but form, in fact, a question).

The exclamation mark is also a perfectly valid option, though this too would imply a degree or intensity of force, of indignation, that the author might not necessarily want in this instance.

So in this case, if the author wanted the illocutionary inflection of a question to be clear, they could include a question mark. Whether or not it’s a statement or question is a matter of semantics, and punctuation gives the author the option (e.g. whether choosing a question mark or exclamation mark) to finesse the tone of the statement.

Aside from this, however, in context the example is referring to ways to attribute speech other than using tags, so the issue is maybe moot.

I should add that there are instances where the use of a question mark is not optional in this way, for example if using explicit question words such as ‘How’ or ‘What’ (it would indeed be incorrect to write “How’s your mother.”)

Although you could write “How’s your mother!” as a sort of statement (for example, if a character were impressed/shocked by another character’s mom’s behaviour and their statement were more a colloquial expression of surprise/shock). So again it comes down to authorial intention and whether or not the punctuation involved creates or avoids unintentional ambiguity.

[…] 7 Dialogue Rules for Writing Fantastic Conversations […]

Hi, I know this was years ago but what a great pot – thankyou! Found it really helpful.

Hi Anna, thank you for your kind feedback. We’re glad you found it helpful! Thanks for reading our blog.

“Now novel, you just gave me dialogue knowledge,” cliffton commented.

“Clifton, I’m glad we could help,” I say. Thanks for reading our blog! 🙂

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How To Write Dialogue In A Story (With Examples)

One of the biggest mistakes made by writers is how they use dialogue in their stories. Today, we are going to teach you how to write dialogue in a story using some easy and effective techniques. So, get ready to learn some of the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue!

There are two main reasons why good dialogue is so important in works of fiction. First, good dialogue helps keep the reader interested and engaged in the story. Second, it makes your work easier to write, read and understand. So, if you want to write dialogue that is interesting, engaging and easy to read, keep on reading. We will be teaching you the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue in a story.

Internal vs External Dialogue

Direct vs indirect dialogue, 20 tips for formatting dialogue in stories, step 1: use a dialogue outline, step 2: write down a script, step 3: edit & review your script, step 4: sprinkle in some narrative, step 5: format your dialogue, what is dialogue .

Dialogue is the spoken words that are spoken between the characters of a story. It is also known as the conversation between the characters. Dialogue is a vital part of a story. It is the vehicle of the characters’ thoughts and emotions. Good dialogue helps show the reader how the characters think and feel. It also helps the reader better understand what is happening in the story. Good dialogue should be interesting, informative and natural. 

In a story, dialogue can be expressed internally as thoughts, or externally through conversations between characters. A character thinking to themself would be considered internal dialogue. Here there is no one else, just one character thinking or speaking to themselves:

Mary thought to herself, “what if I can do better…”

While two or more characters talking to each other in a scene would be an external dialogue:

“Watch out!” cried Sam. “What’s wrong with you?” laughed Kate.

In most cases, the words spoken by your character will be inside quotation marks. This is called direct dialogue. And then everything outside the quotation marks is called narrative:

“What do you want?” shrieked Penelope as she grabbed her notebooks. “Oh, nothing… Just checking if you needed anything,” sneered Peter as he tried to peek over at her notes.

Indirect dialogue is a summary of your dialogue. It lets the reader know that a conversation happened without repeating it exactly. For example:

She was still fuming from last night’s argument. After being called a liar and a thief, she had no choice but to leave home for good.

Direct dialogue is useful for quick conversations, while indirect dialogue is useful for summarising long pieces of dialogue. Which otherwise can get boring for the reader. Writers can combine both types of dialogue to increase tension and add drama to their stories.

Now you know some of the different types of dialogue in stories, let’s learn how to write dialogue in a story.

Here are the main tips to remember when formatting dialogue in stories or works of fiction:

• Always use quotation marks: All direct dialogue is written inside quotation marks, along with any punctuation relating to that dialogue.

• Don’t forget about dialogue tags: Dialogue tags are used to explain how a character said something.  Each tag has at least one noun or pronoun, and one verb indicating how the dialogue is spoken. For example, he said, she cried, they laughed and so on.

• Dialogue before tags: Dialogue before the dialogue tags should start with an uppercase. The dialogue tag itself begins with a lowercase.

• Dialogue after tags: Both the dialogue and dialogue tags start with an uppercase to signify the start of a conversation. The dialogue tags also have a comma afterwards, before the first set of quotation marks.

• Lowercase for continued dialogue: If the same character continues to speak after the dialogue tags or action, then this dialogue continues with a lowercase.

• Action after complete dialogue: Any action or narrative text after completed dialogue starts with an uppercase as a new sentence.

• Action interrupting dialogue: If the same character pauses their dialogue to do an action, then this action starts with a lowercase.

• Interruptions by other characters: If another character Interrupts a character’s dialogue, then their action starts with an uppercase on a new line. And an em dash (-) is used inside the quotation marks of the dialogue that was interrupted. 

• Use single quotes correctly: Single quotes mean that a character is quoting someone else.

• New paragraphs equal new speaker: When a new character starts speaking, it should be written in a new paragraph. 

• Use question marks correctly: If the dialogue ends with a question mark, then the part after the dialogue should begin with a lowercase.

• Exclamation marks: Similar to question marks, the next sentence should begin with a lowercase. 

• Em dashes equal being cut off: When a character has been interrupted or cut off in the middle of their speech, use an em dash (-).

• Ellipses mean trailing speech: When a character is trailing off in their speech or going on and on about something use ellipses (…). This is also good to use when a character does not know what to say.

• Spilt long dialogue into paragraphs: If a character is giving a long speech, then you can split this dialogue into multiple paragraphs. 

• Use commas appropriately: If it is not the end of the sentence then end the dialogue with a comma.

• Full stops to end dialogue: Dialogue ending with a full stop means it is the end of the entire sentence. 

• Avoid fancy dialogue tags: For example, ‘he moderated’ or ‘she articulated’. As this can distract the reader from what your characters are actually saying and the content of your story. It’s better to keep things simple, such as using he said or she said.
• No need for names: Avoid repeating your character’s name too many times. You could use pronouns or even nicknames. 
• Keep it informal: Think about how real conversations happen. Do people use technical or fancy language when speaking? Think about your character’s tone of voice and personality, what would they say in a given situation? 

Remember these rules, and you’ll be able to master dialogue writing in no time!

How to Write Dialogue in 5 Steps

Dialogue is tricky. Follow these easy steps to write effective dialogue in your stories or works of fiction:

A dialogue outline is a draft of what your characters will say before you actually write the dialogue down. This draft can be in the form of notes or any scribblings about your planned dialogue. Using your overall book outline , you can pinpoint the areas where you expect to see the most dialogue used in your story. You can then plan out the conversation between characters in these areas. 

A good thing about using a dialogue outline is that you can avoid your characters saying the same thing over and over again. You can also skim out any unnecessary dialogue scenes if you think they are unnecessary or pointless. 

Here is an example of a dialogue outline for a story:

You even use a spreadsheet to outline your story’s dialogue scenes.

In this step, you will just write down what the characters are saying in full. Don’t worry too much about punctuation and the correct formatting of dialogue. The purpose of this step is to determine what the characters will actually say in the scene and whether this provides any interesting information to your readers.

Start by writing down the full script of your character’s conversations for each major dialogue scene in your story. Here is an example of a dialogue script for a story:

Review your script from the previous step, and think about how it can be shortened or made more interesting. You might think about changing a few words that the characters use to make it sound more natural. Normally the use of slang words and informal language is a great way to make dialogue between characters sound more natural. You might also think about replacing any names with nicknames that characters in a close relationship would use. 

The script might also be too long with plenty of unnecessary details that can be removed or summarised as part of the narration in your story (or as indirect dialogue). Remember the purpose of dialogue is to give your story emotion and make your characters more realistic. At this point you might also want to refer back to your character profiles , to see if the script of each character matches their personality. 

Once your script has been perfected, you can add some actions to make your dialogue feel more believable to readers. Action or narrative is the stuff that your characters are actually doing throughout or in between dialogue. For example, a character might be packing up their suitcase, as they are talking about their holiday plans. This ‘narrative’ is a great way to break up a long piece of dialogue which otherwise could become boring and tedious for readers. 

You have now planned your dialogue for your story. The final step is to incorporate these dialogue scenes into your story. Remember to follow our formatting dialogue formatting rules explained above to create effective dialogue for your stories!

That’s all for today! We hope this post has taught you how to write dialogue in a story effectively. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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English lessons and resources

Direct speech writing rules in English

7th January 2019 by Andrew 14 Comments

In the above picture, Mark is talking to Jane. The words inside the blue box are the exact words that he speaks.

Here is how we express this:

This is direct speech. Direct speech is when we report the exact words that somebody says.

In this English lesson, you will learn:

• The rules for writing direct speech.
• The correct punctuation.
• Vocabulary to report direct speech.

Reporting clause before the direct speech

The reporting clause of direct speech is the short clause that indicates who is talking. It is the clause that is outside of the inverted commas. It is therefore not the words being spoken.

We can write the reporting clause either before or after the direct speech. If the reporting clause is before the direct speech, we write it as follows:

Grammar rules – If the reporting clause is before the direct speech:

We write a comma (,) before the direct speech. We write the exact words inside the inverted commas. The first letter is a capital letter. We write a full stop (.) before the closing inverted commas.

Reporting clause before a question or exclamation

If the reporting clause is before a question or exclamation:

We write a comma (,) before the direct speech. We write the exact words inside the inverted commas. The first letter is a capital letter. We write a question mark (?) before the closing inverted commas. or We write an exclamation mark (!) before the closing inverted commas.

Reporting clause after the direct speech

If the reporting clause is after the direct speech:

We write the exact words inside the inverted commas. The first letter is a capital letter. We write a comma (,) before the closing inverted commas. We write a full stop (.) at the end of the reporting clause.

Reporting clause after a question or exclamation

If the reporting clause is after a question or exclamation:

We write the exact words inside the inverted commas. The first letter is a capital letter. We write a question mark (?) before the closing inverted commas. or We write an exclamation mark (!) before the closing inverted commas. We write a full stop (.) at the end of the reporting clause.

Advanced rules for direct speech

Sometimes we break up the direct speech into 2 parts:

The second part of the direct speech starts with a small letter if it is the same sentence as the first part of the direct speech.

The second part of the direct speech starts with a capital letter if it is a new sentence.

Vocabulary of direct speech

We have several names for the above punctuation marks:

Inverted commas Speech marks Quotation marks Quotes

Other reporting verbs

Here are some other useful reporting verbs:

reply (replied) ask (asked) shout (shouted) agree (agreed) comment (commented) admit (admitted)

They are often used for writing direct speech in books, newspapers and reports. It is more common to use them in reporting clauses after the direct speech.

“I really don’t like her dress,” she commented . “I don’t love you anymore,” he admitted .

Other English lessons

Private online English lessons How to pass the IELTS with a band 8 Adverbs of frequency Indefinite article “a” and “an” The prepositions FOR and SINCE All of our lessons

Direct speech video lesson

Reader Interactions

Matěj Formánek says

3rd November 2019 at 5:54 pm

How about this sentence: I know the satnav is wrong!” exclaimed Zena. – Why the subject and predicate are swapped? It’s sentence from textbook so I’m confused.

17th June 2020 at 4:07 pm

Can we write multiple sentences in direct speech that comes before reporting clause? In case if this is allowed, what punctuation mark should be used after the last sentence?

Example: “I entered the class room. As I did not find anybody there, I left the class room and went to buy a coffee.” explained the student to the teacher for his delay to come to the class.

Should the punctuation mark after the word coffee be comma instead of full stop?

Joaquim Barretto says

14th September 2020 at 1:25 pm

No full stop, but comma after the word coffee.

19th January 2021 at 2:34 pm

HI IM DAISY

courtney says

27th January 2021 at 12:07 pm

Clare Hatcher says

12th March 2021 at 9:55 am

Hello I like the layout of this – very clear. Just wondering if it is correct to use a comma in between two separate sentences in direct speech. I think that now in published material you find this instead. ‘I’m tired,’ she said. ‘Let’s stay at home.’ Would appreciate your thoughts Thanks

27th March 2021 at 8:54 am

If I wrote something with a comma at the end to continue speech like this:

“Hello,” he waved to the new student, “what’s you’re name?”

Do I have to use a capital letter even if I’m continuing with a comma or is it lowercase?

Sylvia Edouard says

30th September 2023 at 9:17 am

Yes, you need to use a capital letter as speech from someone has to start with a capital letter. Always.

15th April 2022 at 12:12 pm

which of the following is correct?

1. Should the status go missing when the metadata states, “Sign & return document?”

2. Should the status go missing when the metadata states, “Sign & return document,”? (comma inside)

3. Should the status go missing when the metadata states, “Sign & return document.”? (full stop inside)

Jan Švanda says

7th September 2023 at 1:31 pm

I presume the quotation is there to specify the exact phrase (for the metadata entry). I also encounter this from time to time, when writing technical documentation. I believe in that case you should write the phrase as it is, proper grammar be damned; beautifully looking documentation is useless if it leads to incorrect results.

In this case, I don’t even think this is “direct speech”, the metadata entry isn’t walking around and saying things, the quotation mark is there to indicate precise phrase – similar to marking strings in programming languages. Because of this, I don’t think direct speech rules apply, or at least, they should take back seat. If the expected status includes full stop at the end, the sentence would be:

4. Should the status go missing when the metadata states “Sign & return document.”? (no comma before, since it is not a direct speech; full stop inside, as it is part of the quoted status)

From grammatical perspective the end looks a bit ugly, but again, if this should be technical documentation, that is less important than precision.

A person says

15th August 2022 at 7:16 pm

One extra thing: YOU MUST NOT USE THE WORD SAID IN A REPORTING CLAUSE. EVER. IT’S UNIMAGINATIVE.

no joke, it’s actually discouraged and even close to banned at my school

7th September 2023 at 1:49 pm

This is stupid. You shouldn’t use it in _every_ sentence, there should be variety, but outright banning it doesn’t make sense.

Case in point:

Book: ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Phrase to search: ‘,” said’ (comma, followed by quotation mark, followed by space, followed by word ‘said’). Number of occurrences: 211. Total number of ‘,”‘ (comma, followed by quotation mark) strings is 436, so “said” is used in almost 50% cases of direct speech of this type.

I don’t think it would be right for your school to ban Jane Austin, do you?

blaire says

30th March 2024 at 5:36 pm

How do you use names in direct speech?

Is it: “I really don’t like her dress,” Ashley said. or “I really don’t like her dress,” said Ashley.

I’ve seen both and I’m so confused which one is correct, please help me.

Andrew says

3rd April 2024 at 11:31 am

Hello and thanks for your comment and question.

After the direct speech, both are correct.

Before the direct speech, only the first one is correct:

Ashley said, “I really don’t like her dress.” (correct) Said Ashley, “I really don’t like her dress.” (wrong)

I hope that helps you. Andrew https://www.youtube.com/@CrownAcademyEnglish/

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Musk tried to ‘punish’ critics, judge rules, in tossing a lawsuit

In a win for hate-speech researchers, a federal judge in california dismisses x’s lawsuit under the state’s anti-slapp law.

A federal judge in California on Monday threw out the entirety of a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), ruling that the lawsuit was an attempt to silence X’s critics.

“X Corp.’s motivation in bringing this case is evident,” U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer wrote in a 52-page ruling . “X Corp. has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp. — and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism.”

X sued the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit in July 2023 after it published a report alleging that the social network was profiting from hate after Musk reinstated scores of previously suspended accounts of “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists and spreaders of dangerous conspiracy theories.” X alleged that the group improperly gained access to data about X and that its claims influenced advertisers to spend less money on the site, costing X tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The ruling is a win for research groups that study online platforms and a blow to Musk’s campaign to portray X’s loss of advertisers as a vast conspiracy against him. Under Musk, X has also sued the nonprofit Media Matters for America in federal court in Texas, and it threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League before reaching a détente with that group.

Musk “certainly doesn’t seem to champion free-speech rights when the speaker is being critical of him,” said David Greene, senior staff attorney and civil liberties director at the digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Breyer dismissed the suit under California’s strict laws against what are known as SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. The judge did not mince words in his finding that the suit lacked merit and appeared to be a blatant attempt to intimidate researchers and critics.

“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff’s true purpose,” Breyer wrote. “Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech.”

Under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, defendants are entitled to have their legal fees paid by the plaintiffs who filed the frivolous suit.

Imran Ahmed, CCDH’s CEO, cheered Breyer’s ruling in a phone interview Monday, calling it a “complete victory” that should “embolden” public-interest researchers everywhere to continue their work.

“It is quite clear that this was an unconstitutional attempt to shut down the free speech of critics of Elon Musk, by Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed ‘free-speech absolutist,’” Ahmed said. “It’s an enormous relief to the team at CCDH that we now can continue our mission to hold these companies accountable.”

Jonathan Hawk, an attorney representing X in the case, declined to comment. Musk could not be reached for comment, and a request for comment from X was met with an autoreply.

Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said the ruling was “probably the best decision that could have come out of this case with a view toward actually protecting free speech.” “We don’t want the wealthy, the powerful and others to silence dissent through litigation they know is frivolous just because they have the resources,” Caraballo said.

While Musk has billed himself as a “free-speech absolutist,” he has on several occasions barred journalists and activists from the site for posting information that he said violated its rules. Caraballo experienced that last week when her X account was banned after she amplified the identity of anonymous neo-Nazi comic artist StoneToss. The platform cracked down on mentions of the user’s supposed identity and changed the terms of service to prohibit naming the person behind an anonymous account. (Caraballo’s account has since been reinstated.)

CCDH was one of several research groups that found a rise in hate speech on the site after Musk bought it in October 2022. As some advertisers paused spending on X, Musk attempted to control the damage , claiming in November 2022 that hate speech had fallen “below our prior norms.”

On Nov. 10, 2022, CCDH published what it called a “fact-check” of those claims . The group said data from an analytics tool for advertisers called Brandwatch showed that the use of some particularly vile slurs had spiked dramatically.

In February 2023, another CCDH report titled “ Toxic Twitter ” found that a group of 10 extremist accounts whose bans were lifted by Musk was generating billions of views with their tweets and likely bringing in millions in ad revenue . The implication was that Musk was profiting from the speech of people such as neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, self-described “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and leading vaccine conspiracy theorists.

X cited both reports, along with a previous report that CCDH published before Musk’s purchase of Twitter, in its lawsuit. The company said the group violated its terms of service, improperly used the Brandwatch advertising tool and violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s provision against unauthorized access to machines and data.

But while X accused CCDH of harming its reputation, it did not bring a legal claim of defamation, which would have required it to prove that the reports were untrue. CCDH’s lawyers suggested that might be because X didn’t want to open itself to a legal discovery process that would generate evidence about “the truth about the content on its platform.”

Breyer, the judge, took note of that choice, writing in his ruling that X wanted to “have it both ways — to be spared the burdens of pleading a defamation claim, while bemoaning the harm to its reputation, and seeking punishing damages based on reputational harm.”

In a similar case, X sued the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters in Texas in November 2023 after it published a report showing that the site appeared to be running ads alongside blatantly pro-Nazi posts. Multiple businesses, including IBM, Apple and Disney, subsequently suspended their advertising on the platform.

“The court made it clear that Elon Musk is using lawsuits to silence critics and would-be critics,” said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, noting that Musk had “enlisted several Republican state [attorney generals] to initiate harassing investigations against us.”

“Today was a good day for free speech, but there is a long road ahead before it can be marked safe from Musk’s abuse,” Carusone said.

Greene said he hopes the high-profile ruling against Musk will discourage others from trying to use frivolous lawsuits as a tool for intimidation and silencing critics. But he said it’s unlikely the CCDH ruling will have any bearing on the pending lawsuit in Texas against Media Matters because “the claims are different,” noting that Musk sued for defamation in that case.

Texas has become a favored venue for Musk as he has battled lawsuits in other jurisdictions. He moved Tesla’s corporate headquarters from California to Austin in 2021, and he moved the incorporation of SpaceX to Texas from Delaware in February, after a Delaware judge voided his $56 billion pay package for Tesla. The day Musk filed his lawsuit against Media Matters, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) launched a fraud investigation into the nonprofit, subpoenaing materials related to its reporting.

Joseph Menn contributed to this report.

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New york’s ban on pot ads struck down as violation of free speech.

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New York’s struggling legal pot industry has been thrown into turmoil yet again after a judge issued a ruling striking down state rules banning cannabis advertising and marketing as a violation of commerce and free speech.

The same Albany judge , Kevin Bryant, last summer struck down other Cannabis Control Board rules as illegal for providing convicted potheads preference in obtaining licenses over disabled vets and other applicants.

The legal woes last year froze the licensing and opening of new cannabis shops for months while the number of unlicensed marijuana shops sprouted across the city and state like weeds.  

In a withering 13-page ruling issued Wednesday, Bryant said the Office of Cannabis Management issued regulations outlawing promotions and marketing on third-party platforms without evidence backing them up, all but saying the edicts came out of thin air.

“There is nothing in the record to establish precisely how OCM developed the regulations,” Bryant said.

“This court must find that the conclusion was arbitrary and capricious and that there is no substantial basis in the record to support respondents [OCM’s] action. The regulations are unconstitutional violations of petitioners’ free speech rights.”

The ruling tossed out the Third-Party Marketing Ban that also covered the listing of prices of cannabis products like loose flower, joints and gummies.

Cannabis operators expressed alarm that the ruling appeared to toss out virtually all of OCM’s rules.

But the judge amended the ruling on Thursday to limit its impact to ones banning ads.

Seattle-based third-party cannabis promoter Leafly, a licensed cannabis store in upstate Rensselaer, brought the case.

Stage One dispensary and one of its customers, Rosanna St. John, was also party to the suit.

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The plaintiffs claimed the state OCM barred Stage One from contracting with Leafly to promote its cannabis products on Leafly’s site.

 “We are pleased to hear that the court agreed with our claims and we couldn’t be more excited to support consumers and licensed retailers in New York with Leafly’s full suite of products and services,” Leafly said in a statement.

“We hope this decision ultimately leads to a healthy, stable adult-use market in the state. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of providing consumers with choices, and educational information when making purchasing decisions. It is critically important that licensed-retailers have equal access to important advertising and marketing tools to help them succeed in a competitive landscape.” 

The Post has reached out to OCM and state Attorney General Letitia James’ office, OCM’s lawyer, for comment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who oversees OCM, did not comment Thursday when reporters in Albany asked her questions about the ruling.

She recently initiated a review and potential overhaul of OCM’s licensing and management.

Judge Bryant ordered the state to pay for plaintiffs’ legal expenses.

Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden

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A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility,   2024

On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives.  

I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working to ensure that the LGBTQI+ community can live openly, in safety, with dignity and respect.  I am proud to have appointed transgender leaders to my Administration and to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving openly in our military.  I am proud to have signed historic Executive Orders that strengthen civil rights protections in housing, employment, health care, education, the justice system, and more.  I am proud to have signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, ensuring that every American can marry the person they love. 

Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation.  Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive.  They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.  But extremists are proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families — silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison for helping parents get care for their children.  These bills attack our most basic American values:  the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child.  It is no surprise that the bullying and discrimination that transgender Americans face is worsening our Nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year.  At the same time, an epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, especially women and girls of color, continues to take too many lives.  Let me be clear:  All of these attacks are un-American and must end.  No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.  

At the same time, my Administration is working to stop the bullying and harassment of transgender children and their families.  The Department of Justice has taken action to push back against extreme and un-American State laws targeting transgender youth and their families and the Department of Justice is partnering with law enforcement and community groups to combat hate and violence.  My Administration is also providing dedicated emergency mental health support through our nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline — any LGBTQI+ young person in need can call “988” and press “3” to speak with a counselor trained to support them.  We are making public services more accessible for transgender Americans, including with more inclusive passports and easier access to Social Security benefits.  There is much more to do.  I continue to call on the Congress to pass the Equality Act, to codify civil rights protections for all LGBTQI+ Americans.

Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans:  You are loved.  You are heard.  You are understood.  You belong.  You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.  I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Lawsuit by Elon Musk's X was an attempt to punish free speech, judge rules

• A US judge threw out a suit X filed, saying it was about "punishing the defendants for their speech."
• It had sought millions in damages from a research group that found a rise in hate speech on X.
• X CEO Elon Musk has said a similar "thermonuclear" lawsuit is about " protecting free speech ."

A lawsuit that Elon Musk's X filed last year against a research group was thrown out Monday, with US District Judge Charles Breyer saying, "This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech."

In its complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, X argued that the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate violated the platform's terms of service in gathering data for reports that documented a significant increase in hate speech on X following Musk's takeover.

The company claimed the CCDH was responsible for "tens of millions of dollars" in damages due to lost advertising revenue and the expense of internal investigations.

But Breyer wrote "there can be no mistaking" that the real motive of the suit was to bully X's critics into silence.

The decision cited a survey that found "social media researchers have canceled, suspended or changed more than 100 studies about X" as a result of Musk's policies as CEO.

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When asked for comment on the decision, the press email for X replied, "Busy now, please check back later."

Musk has previously said he's a "free speech absolutist" and that his "thermonuclear" lawsuits against media-watchdog groups are about "protecting free speech."

In his scathing dismissal, Breyer said the CCDH exercising its First Amendment rights was the fundamental issue, despite X's attempt to sidestep it with arguments about data privacy and security.

In its complaint, X was seeking payment for advertising revenue it said it lost because of the CCDH's reports, but it stopped short of contesting any of the facts in those reports.

"It is apparent to the Court that X Corp. wishes to have it both ways," Breyer wrote, "to be spared the burdens of pleading a defamation claim, while bemoaning the harm to its reputation, and seeking punishing damages based on reputational harm."

In a footnote, he added: "If there is any question about the 'punishing' part, X Corp. filed a similar suit, not before this Court, in November of 2023 against Media Matters, another non-profit media watchdog , for 'reporting on ads from major brands appearing next to neo-Nazi content.'"

In a statement, the CCDH's CEO and founder, Imran Ahmed, said the lawsuit was part of Musk's "loud, hypocritical campaign of harassment, abuse, and lawfare designed to avoid taking responsibility for his own decisions."

"We hope this landmark ruling will embolden public-interest researchers everywhere," he added, "to continue, and even intensify, their vital work of holding social media companies accountable for the hate and disinformation they host and the harm they cause."

Watch: OPINION: Media activist shares how Musk could change Twitter

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Trump calls migrants 'animals,' intensifying focus on illegal immigration

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Mexico suspends relations with Ecuador after arrest of ex-VP

Ecuadorean authorities arrested former Vice President Jorge Glas on Friday evening, seizing him from the Mexican embassy and prompting Mexico to suspend bilateral relations.

A Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killed six civilians and injured 10 early on Saturday, regional officials said.

Special counsel rips judge's jury instructions request in Trump classified documents case

Special counsel Jack Smith strongly criticized a recent order by the judge presiding over the case of former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, saying that her request for jury instructions from his office and Trump's lawyers is based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”

In a court filing Tuesday , Smith argued that the legal premise behind Judge Aileen Cannon’s request is “wrong” and that it would “distort” the trial, potentially leading to a directed verdict in Trump's favor. The special counsel urged Cannon to “promptly” decide whether the legal premise in question represents a “correct formulation of the law,” and indicated that federal prosecutors would appeal if the judge rules against them.

Cannon last month directed Trump and the special counsel to submit jury instructions framed with two competing scenarios concerning the Presidential Records Act as it relates to the charges brought against Trump under the Espionage Act accusing him of mishandling of classified documents.

The first scenario Cannon outlined allows the jury to review records and determine which documents Trump retained are “personal” or “presidential” under the Presidential Records Act. In the second scenario, Cannon instructed lawyers to draft instructions based on the assumption that presidents have the “sole authority” under that act to lawfully retain documents at the end of their term by declaring them as “personal” or “presidential” records, aligning with Trump’s defense in the case.

“Both scenarios rest on an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise — namely, that the Presidential Records Act (‘PRA’), and in particular its distinction between ‘personal’ and ‘Presidential’ records determines whether a former President is ‘authorized,’ under the Espionage Act to possess highly classified documents and store them in an unsecure facility,” Smith's team wrote in the filing.

The Presidential Records Act requires the return of presidential records at the end of a president's term, but says they can keep their personal records, which is described as documents containing “highly personal information, such as diaries, journals, and medical records.” 

In a Tuesday filing responding to Cannon's order, Trump's lawyers maintained that the Presidential Records Act gives Trump the authority to decide whether a record is personal or presidential, that all of the records found in his possession could be considered personal despite classification markings, and that that Trump's determination that they're personal records can't be second-guessed by the courts.

One of their proposed jury instructions was for the judge to tell jurors "if President Trump designated a document as a 'personal record' under the Presidential Records Act, then the classification status of that document, if any, is not relevant to your evaluation of whether the government has met its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the document you are considering is a 'Presidential record.'”

Smith's office said such an instruction would be a grievous mistake and characterized Trump's defense using the Presidential Records Act as pure fiction.

"Trump’s entire effort to rely on the PRA is not based on any facts," prosecutors said. "It is a post hoc justification that was concocted more than a year after he left the White House, and his invocation in this Court of the PRA is not grounded in any decision he actually made during his presidency to designate as personal any of the records charged."  

They also noted that while Trump has claimed the documents had been deemed personal while he was president, there's no evidence he'd done so.

"During its exhaustive investigation, the Government interviewed Trump’s own PRA representatives and numerous high-ranking officials from the White House — Chiefs of Staff, White House Counsel and senior members of the White House Counsel’s Office, a National Security Advisor, and senior members of the National Security Council," they wrote. "Not a single one had heard Trump say that he was designating records as personal or that, at the time he caused the transfer of boxes to Mar-a-Lago, he believed that his removal of records amounted to designating them as personal under the PRA. To the contrary, every witness who was asked this question had never heard such a thing," and Trump and his attorneys repeatedly referred to the documents he had possessed as "presidential records" well after he left the White House.

Trump's lawyers, meanwhile, said in their proposed instructions to the jury that to find Trump had "knowingly" taken control of classified documents, the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did so "voluntarily and intentionally and not because of a mistake or by accident."

"Medical science has not yet devised an instrument which can record what was in one’s mind in the distant past," the proposed instructions read. "Rarely is direct proof available to establish the state of one’s mind. State of mind may be inferred from what a person says or does: his words, his actions, and his conduct, as of the time of the occurrence of certain events. The intent with which an act is done is often more clearly and conclusively shown by the act itself, or by a series of acts, than by words or explanations of the act uttered long after the occurrence."

Trump faces multiple charges in the classified documents case, including willful retention of national defense information, false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record and corruptly concealing a document. 

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all counts. His co-defendants in the case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, have also pleaded not guilty to related charges. Trump in February moved to dismiss the classified documents indictment in Florida, arguing that on the basis of presidential immunity he cannot be prosecuted.

Cannon last month denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case as constitutionally vague and expressed skepticism over his lawyers’ argument for tossing out the case based on the Presidential Records Act.

Summer Concepcion is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Nebraska Lawmakers Block Trump-Backed Changes to Electoral System

The state awards an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Former President Donald J. Trump and allies want a “winner take all” system, which may have another chance to pass.

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By Maggie Astor

• April 4, 2024

Nebraska legislators on Wednesday night overwhelmingly declined to change how the state awards its Electoral College votes to a winner-take-all system.

Shrugging off pressure from former President Donald J. Trump and Gov. Jim Pillen, who have pushed Republicans to move forward on the issue, members of the unicameral State Legislature rejected in bipartisan fashion an effort to attach a provision that would have made the change to an unrelated bill. Had it passed, the change could have helped Mr. Trump in his race against President Biden.

It is still possible that the provision could be attached to another bill, but there are only days to go before the legislative session ends.

Nebraska is one of two states — the other being Maine — that award an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district, meaning it’s possible for a candidate who loses the state to nonetheless receive some credit.

In Nebraska’s case, this means two electoral votes are awarded to the statewide winner and three are awarded to the district winners. Two of the districts, and the state as a whole, are solidly Republican. But the Second District, in and around Omaha, is a swing district and voted for Mr. Biden in 2020.

In an election as close as this November’s may be, that single electoral vote could be decisive . There is a realistic scenario — Mr. Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; Mr. Trump wins Arizona, Georgia and Nevada — in which it could make the difference between a Biden victory and an Electoral College tie.

If that were to happen, the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives, and Mr. Trump would be likely to win. A tie would be resolved with each state delegation getting one vote, not by a vote of the full chamber.

At least some of the Republican opposition on Wednesday was not necessarily to the idea of making Nebraska a winner-take-all state, but to the way the measure was brought up as an amendment to an unrelated bill.

“Attaching that bill to the one that they attempted was procedurally not right,” Senator Jana Hughes said in an email on Thursday. “Also, the winner-take-all bill has not been voted out of committee and it does not have a priority. So it should not be able to be heard in our last five days, in my opinion.”

Asked whether he had voted no for substantive or procedural reasons, Senator Myron Dorn replied with a single word: “Procedural.”

Maggie Astor covers politics for The New York Times, focusing on breaking news, policies, campaigns and how underrepresented or marginalized groups are affected by political systems. More about Maggie Astor

Our Coverage of the 2024 Presidential Election

News and Analysis

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has emerged as a wild card in the 2024 election , attracting a motley mix of ideologically diverse supporters, raising piles of cash and drawing legal attacks from Democrats and verbal barrages from former President Donald Trump.

Melania Trump, who has been mostly absent from public view while her husband campaigns for president, will appear at a fund-raiser at Mar-a-Lago , marking a return of sorts to the political arena.

The centrist group No Labels has abandoned its plans to run a presidential ticket in the 2024 election, having failed to recruit a candidate. The group had suffered a string of rejections recently  as prominent Republicans and Democrats declined to run on its ticket.

Florida court rulings on abortion have all but guaranteed that voters will have the issue on their minds in November, bringing potential risks for two anti-abortion Republicans  in the state whose districts aren’t solidly red.

Trump’s falsehoods about mail voting have created a strategic disadvantage for Republicans, who must rely on Election Day turnout . The group Turning Point Action has a $100 million plan to change voters’ habits to encourage early voting.

The focus of Trump’s hotel business is shifting from big cities to his golf resorts,  after a deal to host tournaments for LIV Golf , the upstart league sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, another example of the ties between the Saudis and the Trump family.

Biden and Trump are the oldest people ever to seek the presidency , challenging norms about what the public should know about candidates’ health.

Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist and consultant, has spent the past two years telling Democrats they need to calm down. His Biden-will-win prediction is his next big test .