rules of speech writing

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6 Unbreakable Dialogue Punctuation Rules All Writers Must Know

Dialogue punctuation is a critical part of written speech that allows readers to understand when characters start and stop speaking. By following the proper punctuation rules — for example, that punctuation marks almost always fall within the quotation marks — a writer can ensure that their characters’ voices flow off the page with minimal distraction.

This post’ll show you how to format your dialogue to publishing standards.

6 essential dialogue punctuation rules:

1. Always put commas and periods inside the quote

2. use double quote marks for dialogue (if you’re in america), 3. start a new paragraph every time the speaker changes , 4. use dashes and ellipses to cut sentences off, 5. deploy single quote marks used for quotes within dialogue, 6. don’t use end quotes between paragraphs of speech .

The misplacement of periods and commas is the most common mistake writers make when punctuating dialogue. But it’s pretty simple, once you get the hang of it. You should always have the period inside the quote when completing a spoken sentence.

Example: “It’s time to pay the piper.”

As you’ll know, the most common way to indicate speech is to write dialogue in quotation marks and attribute it to a speaker with dialogue tags, such as he said , she said, or Margaret replied, or chirped Hiroko . This is what we call “attribution” when you're punctuating dialogue.

Insert a comma inside the quotation marks when the speaker is attributed after the dialogue.

Example: “Come closer so I can see you,” said the old man.

If the speaker is attributed before the dialogue, there is a comma outside the quotation marks.

Example: Aleela whimpered, “I don’t want to. I’m scared.”

If the utterance (to use a fancy linguistics term for dialogue 🤓) ends in a question mark or exclamation point, they would also be placed inside the quotation marks.

Exception: When it’s not direct dialogue. 

You might see editors occasionally place a period outside the quotation marks. In those cases, the period is not used for spoken dialogue but for quoting sentence fragments, or perhaps when styling the title of a short story.

Mark’s favorite short story was “The Gift of the Magi”. 

My father forced us to go camping, insisting that it would “build character”.

Now that we’ve covered the #1 rule of dialogue punctuation, let’s dig into some of the more nuanced points.

In American English, direct speech is normally represented with double quotation marks. 

Example : “Hey, Billy! I’m driving to the drug store for a soda and Charleston Chew. Wanna come?” said Chad

In British and Commonwealth English, single quotation marks are the standard.

Example: ‘I say, old bean,’ the wicketkeeper said, ‘Thomas really hit us for six. Let’s pull up stumps and retire to the pavilion for tea.’

This is one of the most fundamental rules of organizing dialogue. To make it easier for readers to follow what’s happening, start a new paragraph every time the speaker changes, even if you use dialogue tags.

“What do you think you’re doing?” asked the policeman. “Oh, nothing, officer. Just looking for my hat,” I replied.

The new paragraph doesn’t always have to start with direct quotes. Whenever the focus moves from one speaker to the other, that’s when you start a new paragraph. Here’s an alternative to the example above:

“What do you think you’re doing?” asked the policeman. I scrambled for an answer. “Oh, nothing, officer. Just looking for my hat.”

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So far, all of the examples we’ve shown you are of characters speaking in full, complete sentences. But as we all know, people don’t always get to the end of their thoughts before their either trail off or are interrupted by others. Here’s how you can show that on the page.

Em-dashes to interrupt

When a speaking character is cut off, either by another person or a sudden event, use an em-dash inside the quotation marks. These are the longest dashes and can be typed by hitting alt-shift-dash on your keyboard (or option-shift-dash for Mac users).

“Captain, we only have twenty seconds before—”     A deafening explosion ripped through the ship’s hull. It was already too late. 

“Ali, please tell me what’s going—”     “There’s no use talking!” he barked.

You can also overlap dialogue to show one character speaking over another.

Mathieu put his feet up as the lecturer continued. "Current estimates indicate that a human mission will land on Mars within the next decade—"      "Fat chance."      "—with colonization efforts following soon thereafter."

Sometime people won’t finish their sentences, and it’s not because they’ve been interrupted. If this is the case, you’ll want to… 

Trail off with ellipses 

You can indicate the speaker trailing off with ellipses (. . .) inside the quotation marks.

Velasquez patted each of her pockets. “I swear I had my keys . . .”

Ellipses can also suggest a small pause between two people speaking.

Dawei was in shock. “I can’t believe it . . .” “Yeah, me neither,” Lan Lan whispered.

💡Pro tip: The Chicago Manual of Style requires a space between each period of the ellipses. Most word processors will automatically detect the dot-dot-dot and re-style them for you — but if you want to be exact, manually enter the spaces in between the three periods.

In the course of natural speech, people will often directly quote what other people have said. If this is the case, use single quotation marks within the doubles and follow the usual rules of punctuating dialogue.

“What did Randy say to you?” Beattie asked. “He told me, ‘I got a surprise for you,’ and then he life. Strange, huh?”

But what if a character is quoting another person, who is also quoting another person? In complex cases like this (which thankfully aren’t that common), you will alternate double quotation marks with single quotes.

“I asked Gennadi if he thinks I’m getting the promotion and he said, ‘The boss pulled me aside and asked, “Is Sergei going planning to stay on next year?”’”

The punctuation at the end is a double quote mark, followed by a single quote mark, followed by another double quote. It closes off: 

• What the boss said, 
• What Gennadi said, and 
• What Sergei, the speaker, said.

Quoting quotes within quotes can get messy, so consider focusing on indirect speech. Simply relate the gist of what someone said:

“I pressed Gennadi on my promotion. He said the boss pulled him aside and asked him if I was leaving next year.”

In all the examples above, each character has said fewer than 10 or 20 words at a time. But if a character speaks more than a few sentences at a time, to deliver a speech for example, you can split their speech into multiple paragraphs. To do this:

• Start each subsequent paragraph with an opening quotation mark; and
• ONLY use a closing quotation mark on the final paragraph.

"Would you like to hear my plan?" the professor said, lighting his oak pipe with a match. "The first stage involves undermining the dean's credibility: a small student protesst here, a little harassment rumor there. It all starts to add up. "Stage two involves the board of trustees, with whom I've been ingratiating myself for the past two semesters."

Notice how the first paragraph doesn't end with an end quote? This indicates that the same person is speaking in the next paragraph. You can always break up any extended speech with action beats to avoid pages and pages of uninterrupted monologue.

Want to see a great example of action beats breaking up a monologue? Check out this example from Sherlock Holmes.

Hopefully, these guidelines have clarified a few things about punctuating dialogue. In the next parts of this guide, you’ll see these rules in action as we dive into dialogue tags and look at some more dialogue examples here .

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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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Speech Writing: How to write a speech in 5 steps

Every great speech starts with an idea, be it for school or work or a TED talk about your area of speciality. We investigate how to get all those ideas from your head to a written speech and then back to your heart. Author of “ How to be Brilliant at Public Speaking “, Sarah Lloyd-Hughes explains the five steps of speech writing…

Even heads of state and other renowned orators have help in writing a speech. They often have professional speech writers to provide them with great content, but you too can learn not only how to talk but also how to  write  a speech like a pro.

Here are 5 steps that we take our speakers through when they’re writing a speech – and it’s the same process as we use for writing  TED  style talks.

Speech writing step 1: Get focused

TED talks famously focus on ‘one idea worth spreading’ and this is what helps them to retain their power. Before you write a single line, figure out what the ONE idea is that you’ll shape your talk around.

When your talk has a single focus you’ll see huge benefits:

• Clarity:  For yourself and your audience.
• Easy to pass on:  Popular talks, like Simon Sinek’s TED talk ‘ How great leaders inspire action ‘ or Ken Robinson’s TED favourite ‘ Do schools kill creativity? ‘ are utterly focused and easy to pass on because they have just one idea.
• Powerful:  When you’re digging in one hole you get deeper, likewise with your talk you can go further with one idea.
• Memorability:  Audiences these days are overwhelmed with ideas and information. You need to be  much  simpler than you think to stand a chance of your message being remembered.

To find your ‘idea worth spreading’ takes a little time and skill, which is why we’ve  devised a complete programme for speakers who are interested in writing  World Class  Speeches ,  like the finest TED speakers.

But if you’re just looking for a place to start, these questions will help you get going:

• What do I want to say?
• What effect am I trying to have by speaking?
• If I can only put across  one  message in my speech, what will that be?
• What is my broader purpose in speaking?

You’re looking for one idea that is clear, interesting and hasn’t been heard before. Good luck!

Speech writing step 2: Think about your audience

Ironically, most speakers completely fail to think about their audience! Yet the best speakers are intimately aware of the needs, questions and doubts facing their audience.

Ask: To whom am I speaking?  Before you start writing you first must ask yourself  Who is my audience  and  what are they seeking ? Writing a speech for a group of human rights activists would be very different to a speech for business managers. Technology engineers might have a totally different perspective on your subject than a room full of English professors.  Thinking deeply about your audience’s needs is the quality of a public speaker I call  Empathy.  It’s an important starting point on your speech writing journey.

Ask: Why should they listen to you?  Great speech writing is grounded in purpose and message. Consider what qualifies you to speak; what you have to offer the audience that they would not be able to hear from anyone else (we all have something).

Ask: What do you want to leave your audience with?  As a result of your Empathetic investigations, what would be your desired outcome as a result of the speech? Decide what your main message will be and continually return to that primary point as you compose your speech. This keeps the audience (and you) focused. As Winston Churchill said:  “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time with a tremendous whack. ”

Speech writing step 3: Build up your speech

Now you have a clear focus to your speech and an idea of how to communicate that clearly to your audience. That’s the skeleton of the speech. It’s now time to fill in that skeleton with meaty content:

• Brain Storming.  Make lists of all the things you want to speak about. Once listed, it will be easier to cut or rearrange your points.
• Categorize for the win.  Brainstorming should lead to a nice list with several categories. Speech writing is all about organization and finding what fits best with your audience and their needs. Think of these categories as stepping stones. Leaving a gap too large between any two stones and they will turn into stumbling blocks will sinking you and your audience. Speech writing is not very much different than writing a paper; thesis statement, support of the thesis, and a conclusion.
• Edit for the jewels . Look for the key moments in your speech that will stimulate the hearts, minds and even stomachs of your audience. Seek the most vivid experiences and stories that you can use to make your point – these are what will make your speech stand out from all the other public speaking our there.

Speech writing step 4: Create a journey

Another key skill of speech writing is to get the right information in the right order. Think of your speech like a journey up a mountain:

Get ready for the trip (introduction).

• The beginning of your speech is the place where you grab the attention of the audience and get them ready to go on a journey with you. For them to travel up your mountain with you they need to know where you’re going together, why it’s an interesting journey to go on and why you are a credible guide to lead them there.

Pass some interesting sights on the way (main body).

• Keep an audience engaged for an entire speech by raising the stakes, or raising the tension as you progress through the speech. Think about contrasts between the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ of your subject matter and contrast the two with stories, facts, ideas or examples.
• Here you might write multiple sections to your speech, to help you stay focused. You might like to write an introduction, main body, and conclusion for each section also. All sections don’t have to be the same length. Take time to decide and write about the ones that need the most emphasis.

Reach your summit (climax).

• The climax is the moment of maximum emotional intensity that most powerfully demonstrates your key message. Think of the key ‘Ahah!’ moment that you want to take your audience to. This is the moment where you reach the top of your mountain and marvel at the view together. It’s a powerful, but underused speech writing tool.

A speedy descent (the close).

• Once you’ve hit your climax, the story is almost over. We don’t want to go all the way down the mountain with you, we’d much rather get airlifted off the top of the mountain whilst we still have the buzz of reaching our goal. This is what great speech writing manages time and again.
• Strangely enough the close can be the hardest part of speech writing. Here’s where you get to hit home your action point – the key thing you want your audience to do differently as a result of listening to your speech. Often the close is where speakers undermine the power of the rest of their speech. So, write a memorable conclusion that captures the essence of your speech, give it some punch, and  stick  to it!

Speech writing step 5: Test your material

Practice your speech several times so that you can feel comfortable with the material. Try the speech out on camera or to a friend to see which parts are most powerful and which you can take the red pen to.

However skilled you are (or not) at speech writing, remember that you are the magic that makes the speech work. It’s your authentic voice that will shine to the audience them and inspire them towards your message.

Follow these speech writing tips, give it some practice and you’ll be sure to be a speech writing winner.

But I’ve collected my years of experience working with world-class conference speakers and TED speakers and distilled it into a  simple guidebook that you can access now for just £20 (+VAT) .

Ginger Leadership Communications

This showcase of inspiring female speakers is part of Ginger’s work with game changing leaders.

Speechwriting 101: Writing an Effective Speech

Whether you are a communications pro or a human resources executive, the time will come when you will need to write a speech for yourself or someone else.  when that time comes, your career may depend on your success..

J. Lyman MacInnis, a corporate coach,  Toronto Star  columnist, accounting executive and author of  “ The Elements of Great Public Speaking ,”  has seen careers stalled – even damaged – by a failure to communicate messages effectively before groups of people. On the flip side, solid speechwriting skills can help launch and sustain a successful career.  What you need are forethought and methodical preparation.

Know Your Audience

Learn as much as possible about the audience and the event.  This will help you target the insights, experience or knowledge you have that this group wants or needs:

• Why has the audience been brought together?
• What do the members of the audience have in common?
• How big an audience will it be?
• What do they know, and what do they need to know?
• Do they expect discussion about a specific subject and, if so, what?
• What is the audience’s attitude and knowledge about the subject of your talk?
• What is their attitude toward you as the speaker?
• Why are they interested in your topic?

Choose Your Core Message

If the core message is on target, you can do other things wrong. But if the message is wrong, it doesn’t matter what you put around it.  To write the most effective speech, you should have significant knowledge about your topic, sincerely care about it and be eager to talk about it.  Focus on a message that is relevant to the target audience, and remember: an audience wants opinion. If you offer too little substance, your audience will label you a lightweight.  If you offer too many ideas, you make it difficult for them to know what’s important to you.

Research and Organize

Research until you drop.  This is where you pick up the information, connect the ideas and arrive at the insights that make your talk fresh.  You’ll have an easier time if you gather far more information than you need.  Arrange your research and notes into general categories and leave space between them. Then go back and rearrange. Fit related pieces together like a puzzle.

Develop Structure to Deliver Your Message

First, consider whether your goal is to inform, persuade, motivate or entertain.  Then outline your speech and fill in the details:

• Introduction – The early minutes of a talk are important to establish your credibility and likeability.  Personal anecdotes often work well to get things started.  This is also where you’ll outline your main points.
• Body – Get to the issues you’re there to address, limiting them to five points at most.  Then bolster those few points with illustrations, evidence and anecdotes.  Be passionate: your conviction can be as persuasive as the appeal of your ideas.
• Conclusion – Wrap up with feeling as well as fact. End with something upbeat that will inspire your listeners.

You want to leave the audience exhilarated, not drained. In our fast-paced age, 20-25 minutes is about as long as anyone will listen attentively to a speech. As you write and edit your speech, the general rule is to allow about 90 seconds for every double-spaced page of copy.

Spice it Up

Once you have the basic structure of your speech, it’s time to add variety and interest.  Giving an audience exactly what it expects is like passing out sleeping pills. Remember that a speech is more like conversation than formal writing.  Its phrasing is loose – but without the extremes of slang, the incomplete thoughts, the interruptions that flavor everyday speech.

• Give it rhythm. A good speech has pacing.
• Vary the sentence structure. Use short sentences. Use occasional long ones to keep the audience alert. Fragments are fine if used sparingly and for emphasis.
• Use the active voice and avoid passive sentences. Active forms of speech make your sentences more powerful.
• Repeat key words and points. Besides helping your audience remember something, repetition builds greater awareness of central points or the main theme.
• Ask rhetorical questions in a way that attracts your listeners’ attention.
• Personal experiences and anecdotes help bolster your points and help you connect with the audience.
• Use quotes. Good quotes work on several levels, forcing the audience to think. Make sure quotes are clearly attributed and said by someone your audience will probably recognize.

Be sure to use all of these devices sparingly in your speeches. If overused, the speech becomes exaggerated. Used with care, they will work well to move the speech along and help you deliver your message in an interesting, compelling way.

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The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Writing A Speech

Writers Write creates writing resources and shares writing tips. In this post, we offer you the complete beginner’s guide to writing a speech .

Last week I started my series on speech writing with  What People Expect From A Speech . Today I am going to give you a foolproof guide that will help you structure the speech.

Speech Writing Part Two: How To Write The Speech

Who will deliver the speech.

Make sure you write a speech that fits the personality, speech patterns, and competency level of the speaker. If you do not know the person, try to arrange a short interview with them. Find out who they are, what tone suits them, and what they want to communicate.

Persuade With A Classic Structure

The classic structure of a persuasive speech is to state a problem and offer a solution.

• In the first part of your speech you state: ‘This is the problem.’
• In the second part of your speech you cover: ‘This is what we can do to fix it or make things better.’
• Answer the five Ws and the one H about the topic: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
• Write your main ideas down, including your research, data and quotations.
• Make a linear timeline for the speech, linking the points together making sure that they flow in a smooth, logical progression. Do not move away from this linear format. If you do, you will digress and lose the message.
• Write your introduction, including the hook you want to use to get your audience to listen to you.
• Write your ending, briefly summarising your main ideas. If you want your audience to do something, end with a call for action.
• Remember the length of a speech, as explained in  What People Expect From A Speech  is important.
• An easy way to explain the process is as follows:
• Tell them what you’re going to tell them (Introduction) 15%
• Tell them (Body of your speech – the main ideas plus examples) 70%
• Tell them what you told them (The ending) 15%

About The Introduction

Do not waste time. People make the mistake of starting speeches by effusively thanking everybody and telling us how happy they are to be there. It is a good idea to explain quickly what your main point is going to be. That helps the audience know what to listen for. Then start with a statistic, or a question to interact with the audience.

All good speeches are only about one thing. Get straight into the story and tell the audience what you’re going to tell them.

About The Body

Nobody likes to be bored. Imagine yourself in your audience’s shoes. What would you like to hear from the speaker? Do not put too much information into your speech. If people read a newspaper or a blog, and do not understand something, they read it again. They cannot do this with a speech. Get it right the first time.

Remember you are not writing a formal essay. People will hear the speech and it should sound conversational.  

• Use shorter sentences. It is better to write two simple sentences than one long, complicated sentence.
• Use contractions. Say ‘I’m’ instead of ‘I am’, and ‘we’re’ instead of ‘we are’.
• Do not use big words when simple ones do the work for you.
• Never use jargon or acronyms.
• You do not have to follow all the rules of written English grammar strictly, for example, you can use fragments.

About The Ending

End by answering the question you asked at the beginning. Then tell everybody what you have told them – listeners need you to do this. End your speech on a positive note. This is what they will remember.

Watch out for next week’s post,  Part Three: Delivering The Speech

If you need to write speeches, you should attend this course: Can I Change Your Mind?

If you enjoyed this post, read:

• 5 Important Things You Need to Know About Writing Speeches
• 18 Things Writers Need To Know About Editing And Proofreading
• 7 Choices That Affect A Writer’s Style
• Business Writing Tips , Writing Speeches , Writing Tips from Amanda Patterson

2 thoughts on “The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Writing A Speech”

I want to thank you Writers Write for these notes, they really help. Especially for beginners like me. Hopefully I’ll be joining your classes soon.

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The Power of the Rule of Three in Speech Writing

Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

A well-delivered speech, a speech that leaves an impact, always has these small nuances that make it as impactful as they are. They aren’t necessarily details you find in books or papers. It might not even stand out to the audience on a conscious level.

But these finer details are what take a speech from good to great. The rule of three is one such finer nuance that you can add to your speech to make your message a little more complete, powerful and memorable! (see what I did there?)

What is the Rule of Three and its importance?

When it comes to public speaking, the rule of three is when you use three statements to iterate a single message. It is a writing technique that focuses on a trio of events or characters as it is more humorous, satisfying, or effective.

Why is that important? Because we as humans tend to remember a message more clearly when it is presented thrice. Think about it – the most famous quotes use the rule of three:

• Blood sweat and tears
• Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)
• Government of the people, by the people, for the people

Here are some examples of the rule of three in some of the most famous speeches in history:

We can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg Address)

Never in the history of human endeavor has so much  been owed by  so many   to so few Winston Churchil (Wartime Speech)

Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Barack Obama (Inaugural Speech)

The words are not the same, but three examples or statements to drive home one message can become a powerful sentence.

Powerful openers are a great way of catching the attention of the audience. Read our article on 15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own) to learn more about creative openers and their implementation in your speech.

Importance of Rule of Three in Public Speaking

Saying something three times is enough to create some sort of pattern. The first time you say it, it’s just a word. The second time you say it, it creates intrigue and the third time you say it, it creates a trilogical pattern.

You can also break patterns for humour using the rule of three which we shall get to later in the article. The rule has multiple purposes. I’ve seen speakers use it to evoke different emotions in their audiences.

I remember this one speaker – what an amazing speech he gave. His title itself used this technique of three. It was called: Push, Pull, Love. The speech beautifully rounded up the speaker’s message continuously leveraging the rule of three. Needless to say, most of us remember it to this day.

Using the power of three, you can better inform your audience, make them laugh or even motivate them!

Keeping the focus on a single message and repeating them in different ways throughout your presentation, is certain to create maximum impact. It’s simply a great way to add more spice to your speech and make it all the more powerful!

“Tell them what you going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you just told them” – Dale Carnegie

How to Incorporate the Rule of Three Into Your Speeches

One of the simplest ways of using the rule of three in your speeches is by slicing your entire speech up into three parts. And by that, I don’t mean slice it up into an introduction, body and conclusion (that’s obvious!). But instead, break up your body into three further ideas.

Speeches are powerful when they have three ideas that drive home the same message.

I’ve written about this previously as well. For example, when you use three anecdotes which talk about a problem, you can use two different situations which showcase the problem and the third story can be the game-changer – where you find a problem to that solution. Lots of speakers do that and it works wonders!

Writing and delivering good content is not enough when it comes to public speaking, structuring a speech in order to deliver an effective message is also as crucial as the former. Read our article on The Ultimate Guide to Structuring a Speech to learn ways to structure your speech.

How to Say it in a Sentence or Phrase

When using the rule of three in sentences, don’t just say all three words/phrases normally. Saying something in a sort of trilogy can have a lot of impact – so you should say it correctly! I’ve seen speakers who use this technique without even knowing it, but it really makes no difference to their speech. They either say it in a very monotonous tone or say it too quickly or slowly.

When using the rule of three, make sure you say it a manner that tells a micro-story in itself. The first word is the intro, the second is the build-up and the third is the conclusion. Unfortunately, there is no one way to say it. It completely depends on your speech and the kind of emotion you are trying to evoke.

Experiment with different methods – try saying it fast, try saying it slowly but with more emotion, try rushing through the first two and slowing down for the last one.

There are multiple permutations and combinations you can try! Have fun with it and see which one works best for you!

How to Use the Rule of Three for Humour

We might define comedy as the unexpected   contrasted to the expected. This is probably why completely unexpected (almost random) jokes stand out and make us laugh the hardest! However, a clever way to incorporate humour would be to build up an expectation, make the audience feel they “get” what’s coming next…and then smash it!

The rule of three can be a powerful tool to use to make your audience roar with laughter doing just that. The reason it works is that the rule of three allows you to build up (but not finish) a pattern. When you say two things which are in relation to each other, the audience has an expectation for the third thing. They have a perceived notion in their minds. When you break that, it creates humour.

A brilliant example of this is a speaker I saw at Toastmasters . He was talking about his college days – about how he had these big dreams but eventually ended up in a dull 9-5 job.

Here is one line he used to make the audience laugh using the rule of three:

“I wanted to become a dancer, become the Michael Jackson of my city! And as you all would expect, I ended up becoming…an accountant.”

It might not sound very funny in text. The way you say it also counts. Let me try and help you visualize that:

“[1] I wanted to become a dancer {said it with a lot of swagger and a big smirk}, [2] become the Michael Jackson of my city {continued to build on that grandeur with his body language}! And as you all would expect [3] I ended up becoming {maintained the same, cocky body language} …an accountant {completely changed his body language and tone of voice to sounding very disgusted in himself}.”

Even Seth MacFarlane , the comedian who went on to create the beloved show Family Guy , used the Rule of Three brilliantly in his Harvard Commencement speech back in 2006.

While talking about his New England origins, Seth goes on to say (in a British accent) “While I treasure my formative years in the land of chowder, lobster and gonorrhea…”

As soon as he said gonorrhea the audience burst out laughing!

Watch how does that here .

Rule of Three for Persuasion

The reason the rule of three is used in so many speeches is that its ability to persuade is superbly powerful.

It’s because of the way we as humans process information. Pattern recognition is something we are amazing at – we’ve been conditioned to do so, and the reason the rule of three works for well is because three is the smallest number required to create a pattern.

It helps the message stick. It helps the message be remembered long after the speech. It helps the message manifest into action.

Take Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Here is a highly persuasive excerpt from one of history’s most iconic speeches:

“ We can never be satisfied  as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.  We can never be satisfied  as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.  We cannot be satisfied  as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

“ With this faith , we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.  With this faith , we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.  With this faith , we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

See how he uses the rule of three here? Bold statements like these and repetition made his speech as persuasive as it is.

When trying to persuade someone, also think of using the rule of three as a mindset – that is – talk about the other person three times as often as you talk about yourself. This helps highlight to the other person what’s in it for them which is key to persuasion.

In order to better understand the art of persuasion, read our extensively written article on The Secret of Writing a Persuasive Speech (On Any Topic) | Ethos, Logos, Pathos is Not Enough .

When you use the rule of three, it’s not just what you say that matters, but how you say it as well. Combine the two together and you have yourself a powerful, memorable and (sometimes) humorous statement!

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Speech Writing

• Updated on  
• Jan 16, 2024

The power of good, inspiring, motivating, and thought-provoking speeches can never be overlooked. If we retrospect, a good speech has not only won people’s hearts but also has been a verbal tool to conquer nations. For centuries, many leaders have used this instrument to charm audiences with their powerful speeches. Apart from vocalizing your speech perfectly, the words you choose in a speech carry immense weight, and practising speech writing begins with our school life. Speech writing is an important part of the English syllabus for Class 12th, Class 11th, and Class 8th to 10th. This blog brings you the Speech Writing format, samples, examples, tips, and tricks!

This Blog Includes:

What is speech writing, speech in english language writing, how do you begin an english-language speech, introduction, how to write a speech, speech writing samples, example of a great speech, english speech topics, practice time.

Must Read: Story Writing Format for Class 9 & 10

Speech writing is the art of using proper grammar and expression to convey a thought or message to a reader. Speech writing isn’t all that distinct from other types of narrative writing. However, students should be aware of certain distinct punctuation and writing style techniques. While writing the ideal speech might be challenging, sticking to the appropriate speech writing structure will ensure that you never fall short.

“There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience.”- Alexander Gregg

The English language includes eight parts of speech i.e. nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives 410 , adverbs , prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

• Noun- A noun is a word that describes anything, such as an animal, a person, a place, or an emotion. Nouns are the building blocks for most sentences.
• Pronoun – Pronouns are words that can be used in place of nouns. They are used so that we don’t have to repeat words. This makes our writing and speaking much more natural.
• Verb – A verb is a term that implies activity or ‘doing.’ These are very vital for your children’s grammar studies, as a sentence cannot be complete without a verb.
• Adjective – An adjective is a term that describes something. An adjective is frequently used before a noun to add extra information or description.
• Prepositions- A preposition is a term that expresses the location or timing of something in relation to something else.
• Conjunction- Because every language has its own set of conjunctions, English conjunctions differ from those found in other languages. They’re typically used as a connecting word between two statements, concepts, or ideas.
• Interjections- Interjections are words that are used to describe a strong emotion or a sudden feeling.

Relevant Read: Speech on the Importance of English

The way you start your English speech can set the tone for the remainder of it. This semester, there are a variety of options for you to begin presentations in your classes. For example, try some of these engaging speech in English language starters.

• Rhetorical questions : A rhetorical question is a figure of speech that uses a question to convey a point rather than asking for a response. The answer to a rhetorical question may be clear, yet the questioner asks it to emphasize the point. Rhetorical questions may be a good method for students to start their English speeches. This method of introducing your material might be appealing to the viewers and encourage them to consider how they personally relate to your issue.
• Statistics: When making an instructive or persuasive speech in an English class, statistics can help to strengthen the speaker’s authority and understanding of the subject. To get your point over quickly and create an emotional response, try using an unexpected statistic or fact that will resonate with the audience.
• Set up an imaginary scene: Create an imaginary situation in your audience’s thoughts if you want to persuade them to agree with you with your speech. This method of starting your speech assists each member of the audience in visualizing a fantastic scenario that you wish to see come true.

Relevant Read: Reported Speech Rules With Exercises

Format of Speech Writing

Here is the format of Speech Writing:

• Introduction : Greet the audience, tell them about yourself and further introduce the topic.
• Body : Present the topic in an elaborate way, explaining its key features, pros and cons, if any and the like.
• Conclusion : Summary of your speech, wrap up the topic and leave your audience with a compelling reminder to think about!

Let’s further understand each element of the format of Speech Writing in further detail:

After the greetings, the Introduction has to be attention-getting. Quickly get people’s attention. The goal of a speech is to engage the audience and persuade them to think or act in your favour. The introduction must effectively include: 

• A brief preview of your topic. 
• Define the outlines of your speech. (For example, I’ll be talking about…First..Second…Third)
• Begin with a story, quote, fact, joke, or observation in the room. It shouldn’t be longer than 3-4 lines. (For Example: “Mahatma Gandhi said once…”, or “This topic reminds me of an incident/story…”)

This part is also important because that’s when your audience decides if the speech is worth their time. Keep your introduction factual, interesting, and convincing.

It is the most important part of any speech. You should provide a number of reasons and arguments to convince the audience to agree with you.

Handling objections is an important aspect of speech composition. There is no time for questions or concerns since a speech is a monologue. Any concerns that may occur during the speech will be addressed by a powerful speech. As a result, you’ll be able to respond to questions as they come in from the crowd. To make speech simpler you can prepare a flow chart of the details in a systematic way.

For example: If your speech is about waste management; distribute information and arrange it according to subparagraphs for your reference. It could include:

• What is Waste Management?
• Major techniques used to manage waste
• Advantages of Waste Management  
• Importance of Waste Management 

The conclusion should be something that the audience takes with them. It could be a reminder, a collective call to action, a summary of your speech, or a story. For example: “It is upon us to choose the fate of our home, the earth by choosing to begin waste management at our personal spaces.”

After concluding, add a few lines of gratitude to the audience for their time.

For example: “Thank you for being a wonderful audience and lending me your time. Hope this speech gave you something to take away.”

Practice Your Speech Writing with these English Speech topics for students !

A good speech is well-timed, informative, and thought-provoking. Here are the tips for writing a good school speech:

Speech Sandwich of Public Speaking

The introduction and conclusion must be crisp. People psychologically follow the primacy effect (tendency to remember the first part of the list/speech) and recency effect (tendency to recall the last part of the list/speech). 

Use Concrete Facts

Make sure you thoroughly research your topic. Including facts appeals to the audience and makes your speech stronger. How much waste is managed? Give names of organisations and provide numerical data in one line.

Use Rhetorical Strategies and Humour

Include one or two open-ended or thought-provoking questions.  For Example: “Would we want our future generation to face trouble due to global warming?” Also, make good use of humour and convenient jokes that engages your audience and keeps them listening.

Check Out: Message Writing

Know your Audience and Plan Accordingly

This is essential before writing your speech. To whom is it directed? The categorised audience on the basis of –

• Knowledge of the Topic (familiar or unfamiliar)

Use the information to formulate the speech accordingly, use information that they will understand, and a sentence that they can retain.

Timing Yourself is Important

An important aspect of your speech is to time yourself.  Don’t write a speech that exceeds your word limit. Here’s how can decide the right timing for your speech writing:

• A one-minute speech roughly requires around 130-150 words
• A two-minute speech requires roughly around 250-300 words

Recommended Read: Letter Writing

Speech Writing Examples

Here are some examples to help you understand how to write a good speech. Read these to prepare for your next speech:

Write a speech to be delivered in the school assembly as Rahul/ Rubaina of Delhi Public School emphasises the importance of cleanliness, implying that the level of cleanliness represents the character of its residents. (150-200 words)

“Cleanliness is next to godliness,” said the great John Wesley. Hello, respected principal, instructors, and good friends. Today, I, Rahul/Rubaina, stand in front of you all to emphasise the significance of cleanliness.

Cleanliness is the condition or attribute of being or remaining clean. Everyone must learn about cleaning, hygiene, sanitation, and the different diseases that are produced by unsanitary circumstances. It is essential for physical well-being and the maintenance of a healthy atmosphere at home and at school. A filthy atmosphere invites a large number of mosquitos to grow and spread dangerous diseases. On the other side, poor personal cleanliness causes a variety of skin disorders as well as lowered immunity.

Habits formed at a young age become ingrained in one’s personality. Even if we teach our children to wash their hands before and after meals, brush their teeth and bathe on a regular basis, we are unconcerned about keeping public places clean. On October 2, 2014, the Indian Prime Minister began the “Swachh Bharat” programme to offer sanitation amenities to every family, including toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems, village cleanliness, and safe and appropriate drinking water supplies. Teachers and children in schools are actively participating in the ‘Clean India Campaign’ with zeal and excitement.

Good health ensures a healthy mind, which leads to better overall productivity, higher living standards, and economic development. It will improve India’s international standing. As a result, a clean environment is a green environment with fewer illnesses. Thus, cleanliness is defined as a symbol of mental purity.

Thank you very much.

Relevant Read: Speech on Corruption

You are Sahil/Sanya, the school’s Head Girl/Head Boy. You are greatly troubled by the increasing instances of aggressive behaviour among your students. You decide to speak about it during the morning assembly. Create a speech about “School Discipline.” (150 – 200 words)

INDISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS,

It has been reported that the frequency of fights and incidences of bullying in our school has increased dramatically in the previous several months. Good morning to everyone present. Today, I, Sahil/Sanya, your head boy/girl, am here to shed light on the serious topic of “Increased Indiscipline in Schools.”

It has come to light that instructor disobedience, bullying, confrontations with students, truancy, and insults are becoming more widespread. Furthermore, there have been reports of parents noticing a shift in their children’s attitudes. As a result, many children are suffering emotionally, psychologically, and physically. The impact of this mindset on children at a young age is devastating and irreversible.

Not to mention the harm done to the school’s property. Theft of chalk, scribbling on desks, walls and lavatory doors, destruction of CCTV cameras and so forth. We are merely depriving ourselves of the comforts granted to us by doing so.

Following numerous meetings, it was determined that the main reasons for the problem were a lack of sufficient guidance, excessive use of social media, and peer pressure. The council is working to make things better. Everyone is required to take life skills classes. Counselling, motivating, and instilling friendly ideals will be part of the curriculum. Seminars for parents and students will be held on a regular basis.

A counsellor is being made available to help you all discuss your sentiments, grudges, and personal problems. We are doing everything we can and expect you to do the same.

So, let us work together to create an environment in which we encourage, motivate, assist, and be nice to one another because we are good and civilised humans capable of a great deal of love.

Relevant Read: How to Write a Speech on Discipline?

The current increase in incidences of violent student misbehaviour is cause for alarm for everyone. Students who learn how to manage their anger can help to alleviate the situation. Write a 150-200-word speech about the topic to be delivered at the school’s morning assembly. (10)

HOW TO CONTROL ANGER

Honourable Principal, Respected Teachers, and Dear Friends, I’d like to share a few “Ways to Manage Anger” with you today.

The growing intolerance among the younger generation, which is resulting in violence against teachers, is cause for severe concern. The guru-shishya parampara is losing its lustre. Aggressive behaviour in students can be provoked by a variety of factors, including self-defence, stressful circumstance, over-stimulation, or a lack of adult supervision.

It has become imperative to address the situation. Life skills workshops will be included in the curriculum. Teachers should be trained to deal with such stubborn and confrontational behaviours. Meditation and deep breathing are very beneficial and should be practised every morning. Students should be taught to count to ten before reacting angrily. Sessions on anger control and its importance must also be held.

Remember that Anger is one letter away from danger. It becomes much more crucial to be able to control one’s rage. It’s never too late to start, as a wise man once said.

“Every minute you stay angry, you lose sixty seconds of peace of mind.”

Relevant Read: English Speech Topics for Students

Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have A Dream’ is one of his most famous speeches. Its impact has lasted through generations. The speech is written by utilising the techniques above. Here are some examples:

“still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” – emotive Language

“In a sense, we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check” – personalising the speech

“to stand up for freedom together” – a call to action.

Importantly, this is an example of how the listener comes first while drafting a speech. The language chosen appeals to a specific sort of audience and was widely utilised in 1963 when the speech was delivered.

• The Best Day of My Life
• Social Media: Bane or Boon?
• Pros and Cons of Online Learning
• Benefits of Yoga
• If I had a Superpower
• I wish I were ______
• Environment Conservation
• Women Should Rule the World!
• The Best Lesson I Have Learned
• Paperbacks vs E-books
• How to Tackle a Bad Habit?
• My Favorite Pastime/Hobby
• Understanding Feminism
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Is it real or not?
• Importance of Reading
• Importance of Books in Our Life
• My Favorite Fictional Character
• Introverts vs Extroverts
• Lessons to Learn from Sports
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Also Read: How to Ace IELTS Writing Section?

Ans. Speech writing is the process of communicating a notion or message to a reader by employing proper punctuation and expression. Speech writing is similar to other types of narrative writing. However, students should be aware of some different punctuation and writing structure techniques.

Ans. Before beginning with the speech, choose an important topic. Create an outline; rehearse your speech, and adjust the outline based on comments from the rehearsal. This five-step strategy for speech planning serves as the foundation for both lessons and learning activities.

Ans. Writing down a speech is vital since it helps you better comprehend the issue, organises your thoughts, prevents errors in your speech, allows you to get more comfortable with it, and improves its overall quality.

Speech writing and public speaking are effective and influential. Hope this blog helped you know the various tips for writing the speech people would want to hear. If you need help in making the right career choices at any phase of your academic and professional journey, our Leverage Edu experts are here to guide you. Sign up for a free session now!

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How to Use the Rule of Three in Your Speeches

Using the Rule of Three allows you to express concepts more completely, emphasize your points, and increase the memorability of your message.

That’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

What is the rule of three? What are some famous examples? How do you use it in speeches? Read on!

• Speech Quotations
• Rhetorical Questions
• Triads (the Rule of Three)
• Parallelism

Western Culture and the Rule of Three

Trios, triplets, and triads abound in Western culture in many disciplines. Just a small sampling of memorable cultural triads include:

• Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• Heaven, hell, and purgatory (Catholicism, primarily)
• Three Wise Men with their gold, frankincense, and myrrh
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• Superman’s “ Truth, Justice, and the American Way “
• Nursery rhymes such as the Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• In a more general sense, there is the allure of trilogies as with Indiana Jones , The Godfather , The Matrix , Star Wars , and many others.
• U.S. Branches of Government: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative
• U.S. Declaration of Independence: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
• French motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
• Abundance of tri-colored flags
• Fire safety motto: Stop, Drop, and Roll
• Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius or Faster, Higher, Stronger
• Real estate: Location, Location, Location

Historic Rule of Three Speech Examples

Speechwriting is, of course, part of our culture. Examples of the Rule of Three can be found in some of the most famous speeches ever delivered:

• “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered)
• “ Friends, Romans, Countrymen. Lend me your ears. “
• “ We can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. “
• “ Government of the people, by the people, for the people “
• “ Duty, Honor, Country ” [repeated several times in the speech]
• “ we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America “

What’s Magical About the Rule of Three?

It is reasonable to ask what’s so special about three? Why is it so popular in our culture? Aren’t there just as many examples of two- or four-element famous speech lines?

For a famous duo, there is Patrick Henry’s “ Give me liberty or give me death . ”

For a classic quartet, it is tough to beat Winston Churchill’s “ I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat . ”

Despite examples like these, there is something magical about the Rule of Three in the way that it allows a speaker to express a concept, emphasize it, and make it memorable.

In his book  Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer , Roy Peter Clark provides insights to the magic of the number three:

“ The mojo of three offers a greater sense of completeness than four or more. ”

… the “encompassing” magic of number three … in our language or culture, three provides a sense of the whole … … in the anti-math of writing, the number three is greater than four. The mojo of three offers a greater sense of completeness than four or more. … Use one for power. Use two for comparison, contrast. Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness. Use four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand.

Rhetorical Devices — Rule of Three

The rule of three describes triads of all types — any collection of three related elements. Two more specific triad variants are hendiatris and tricolon .

A hendiatris is a figure of speech where three successive words are used to express a central idea.

Examples of hendiatris include:

• “ Veni, vidi, vici. ” [Julius Caesar]
• “ Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité “ [ French motto]
• “ Citius, Altius, Fortius ” [Olympic motto]
• “ Wine, women, and song ” [Anonymous]

A tricolon is a series of three parallel elements (words or phrases). In a strict tricolon, the elements have the same length but this condition is often put aside.

Examples of tricola include:

• “Veni, vidi, vici. ” [Julius Caesar]
• “ Be sincere, be brief, be seated. ” [Advice for speakers from Franklin D. Roosevelt]
• “ Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation – not because of [1] the height of our skyscrapers, or [2] the power of our military, or [3] the size of our economy. ” [Barack Obama, Keynote speech to Democratic National Convention, July 2004]

Contemporary Speech Examples using the Rule of Three

“ Using the Rule of Three allows you to express concepts more completely, emphasize your points, and increase the memorability of your message. ”

Nearly every speech critiqued on Six Minutes has wielded the magic of the Rule of Three, as shown by numerous examples below.

• Click through the links to read the detailed analysis.
• Watch the speech being delivered, and note the delivery of these key triads.
• Note how memorable these passages are within the whole speech.

Examples like these cross a wide array of speech types and settings. You can study these examples, and then apply the lessons to your own speechwriting to see how you can incorporate the Rule of Three.

• 5 Speechwriting Lessons from Obama’s Inaugural Speech

Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered.

• Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

[1] It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. [2] It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. [3] It means to say your goodbyes.

• Dalton Sherman: Do you believe?

You’re the ones [1] who feed us, [2] who wipe our tears, [3] who hold our hands or hug us when we need it.

• J.A. Gamache: Toastmasters, 2007

A sandal of hope when you reach out. A sandal of joy when you listen to your heart. A sandal of courage when you dare to care.

• Electrify Your Audience with a Shocking Speech Opening

Tobacco. [long pause] Alcohol. [long pause] Guns. [long pause] Criminal items seized in a search [slight pause] of a 6th grade locker in a bad school district .

• Patrick Henry Winston: How to Speak

Your careers will be determined largely by how well you speak, by how well you write, and by the quality of your ideas… in that order.

• Speech Preparation #6: Add Impact with Rhetorical Devices

… we cannot predict when the wind blows. We cannot predict how strong it will be. We certainly cannot predict its direction.

Other Magical Ways to Harness the Power of Three in Speechwriting

The next Six Minutes articles in this series show you how to apply the Rule of Three to speech outlines , and how to create humor with the Rule of Three to get your audience laughing.

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33 comments.

You’ve put together a fantastic resource here. Another dimension of the Rule of Three is structure. The best stories, screenplays and folktales often have three parts to them. Olivia

Hi Olivia: Structure, indeed! That is the focus of the next article in this series… coming soon.

Love that Olivia, Wooo

You missed one of the most important groups of 3 ever … The 3 Stooges !

Great article. Well researched (except for missing the Stooges) and I really enjoyed it.

D. Mark “Dave” Wheeler

And the greatest.. The THREE… Musketeers.

OK they end up four.. so??

This proves that the rule of three works.. It attracts … (you name it) even more.

Thanks to the late Gail Jefferson, we’ve known for years that most lists people use in everyday conversation have three items in them. But I don’t believe there’s anything magical about it, for reasons given at: http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-so-many-lists-of-three-mystery.html .

I am, however, in no doubt about its rhetorical effect, which is why it’s dealt with in more detail in my book ‘Lend Me Your Ears’ (Chapter 6).

Thought you might appreciate this example from a training course we ran recently… we were working on exercises along these lines when one group came up with this fantastic summary of a good meal. 1/ Shopping 2/ Chopping 3/ Troughing

Pure genius! 🙂

I would also like to think that the rule of three also corresponds to the average attention span of an adult. when making a presentation, two seems to short while four is too much. three seems to be the perfect number to make a point. thanks. great post. 🙂

I love this article. I was thinking about this very concept yesterday. When I prepare for a seminar, I know that I have to take my research, audience, and purpose to create “The Three.” Five is fine, but people forget. Three can cover just enough bases.

Excellent article. To the point. Extremely useful. Thanks.

I have been groping in the dark for an area to talk on, at my 2nd Toastmaster speech. I loved “The Rule of Three” article! I’m a Malaysian born Indian and therefore by no stretch of the imagination, of western breeding. However, I loved your explanations elaborations on the rule of three. I also identify with the completeness conferred by “threes”; Just as the writer mentioned the holy trinity as an example, the hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva come to mind as an examples in Indian/ Southeast Asian culture. Classical Indian Music as well as languages such as Tamil and Sanskrit have numerous examples of the rule of three. You’ve inspired me to use these in some way for my 2nd Toastmaster speech! Thanks for the idea!

I found the blog. I read it. I’ll do it!

Many thanks for this invaluable resource. I will point my friends, colleagues and students towards it. Rgds Vince

PS – I remember George Bush saying about 5 years ago, that ‘What Iraq needs now is peace, justice and security.’ The three stuck in my mind…

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. 😉

Great article.

Excellent article on Speech- craft!! Here are two more triads: – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic (sometimses the 3 ‘R’s) – Wine, Woman & Wealth (the 3 inducements)

My favorite example of the Rule of Three–and the one taught to my now adult children–“THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER” from the Schoolhouse Rock education series! My grandbabies are now learning the tune(s)

Hey Andrew!

Great Article!

I really enjoyed the variety of sources you pulled from.

I find it amazing how much I actually think, speak, and write in “threes” without effort.

Whether the phenomenon of threes is something innate or a product of conditioning (most likely a bit of both), it is nevertheless powerful.

It just feels right. Syllogisms, Jokes, and Stories naturally take on the pattern

Good Job! Love the blog!

The rule of three is right under our noses, yet I never thought anything of it! An aha! moment you could say.

Direct, No-fluff, Excellent!

Thanks, Ben.

Very informative resource. Thanks Andrew.

Thank you for this article and all of your helpful articles! I just gave my first speech at Toastmasters and this site helped tremendously!!!

In sales which is life, there must be a begining,middle,end. The structure in all things!The Power of 3!!

Jimmy Crimmins

Thank you for send me these informations,they are very important for me.One of my dream is to be a public speaker and speechwriter and you are helping me out with these informstions, thank you again.

Very informative and useful tool I learned.

I have learnt so much and hope to learn even more with this information

Thanks for putting together so many useful links and examples Andrew. I’ve linked to your post from my blog – as many others have.

When speaking, you might also like these 3 tips to convey your talk’s key message. Or, as I like to call it, “Nail your point!”

I really enjoyed this read. I am working on a speech analysis essay. My speech is We shall overcome by President Lyndon Bb. Johnson. Thanks you.

Very interesting concept and well researched contentI will certainly implement ‘the rule of three’ in my presentations. thanks

these are useful tips thank you.

Great way to write a five paragraph essay with three supporting piece of evidence.

Wow! This article is so well thought and has many incredible and nostalgic references. Thanks for sharing Andrew. I will also be referencing this post on my blog post about what is public speaking and how to become a great public speaker.

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26 Blog Links

Pivotal Public Speaking » How to Add Power or Humor with the Rule of Three — Jul 9th, 2009

Target Intellect Blog » The rule of three in public speaking — Jul 16th, 2009

Presentationsteknik: skapa en intresseväckande inledning @ I huvudet på Håkan Fleischer — Dec 7th, 2009

The Gettysburg Address: An Analysis | Manner of Speaking — Nov 18th, 2010

When a Wordsmith is Passionate | Manner of Speaking — Dec 5th, 2010

Smartboard workshop & final project | Jago Gazendam — May 6th, 2011

Goodbye world! Hello Improv! « The DeVine Improvisation — Sep 7th, 2011

The Magic of the Rule of Three. Read – Understand- Use! :: 'No Sweat' Public Speaking! — Sep 8th, 2011

Ruminations with roomies | Diana Bananas — Nov 8th, 2011

Comment écrire un discours (la règle de trois) « Exprimez Votre Potentiel — Feb 12th, 2012

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address » Project AnVi — Feb 27th, 2012

Lawyers conjure up faux analogies to find ‘lessons’ from “Hunger Games.” « The Irreverent Lawyer — Apr 19th, 2012

A bit of A and B (and you get some C) « Digitize We Must! — Apr 30th, 2012

Words threes | Ponderandpray — Jun 26th, 2012

3 Parts of Career Satisfaction | Engage Your Strengths — Jul 26th, 2012

Power of 3 — Sep 30th, 2012

HowTo CCR (Cannibal Caveman Roots) “Rule of Three” | StudyPR — Oct 2nd, 2012

CON SỐ 3 HUYỀN DIỆU « Phung Huy EDU — Oct 21st, 2012

What’s the Magic Number? | OISE Bristol — Nov 7th, 2012

Obama and the rule of three | B2B STORYTELLING — Nov 7th, 2012

Coup pour Coup / Blow for Blow (1972) | atwalt — Nov 10th, 2012

How to Use the Rule of Three in Your Speeches | Training Courses Blog — Nov 11th, 2012

It takes three to tango | B2B STORYTELLING — Dec 12th, 2012

Three Reasons Why Jimmy V’s ESPYs Speech Is Such An Amazing Display of Public Speaking. | Dan Oshinsky | Good. Better. Done. — Dec 13th, 2012

Public Speaking and The Rule of Three « Creating Communication — Feb 19th, 2013

Only1List Cheat Sheets | Presentations — May 7th, 2013

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Writing Tips from Professional

Speech Writing Guidelines: The Key for An Excellent Speech

If you want to prepare for an upcoming speech, it is better to go back to the very basics of speech writing first. There are tons of guidelines on how to make your speech effective and interesting, but before we go to that, you must understand that you will need to consider a lot of things, such as your topic, audience, and the type of event. While you can prepare your speech via researching and on-the-spot speaking, the success rate of this method is low unless you are really good at making public speeches. Hence, it is always better to write your speech ahead of time.

The Guidelines in Speech Writing

Start with the basic, make your speech effective, form your speech.

Start your speech with an interesting introduction that will make your audience want to listen to you. Go back to your purpose of why you are giving your speech. After, choose the best technique or hook that would appeal to your audiences such as humor, shocking or thrilling statements, quotes, or a combination of these.

The body must contain the key points, ideas, and concepts of your speech and the arguments/supports of your main message. You should start the body with the strongest point of your argument or idea. Get your audience on your side. Your weakest argument/idea should be placed in the middle. End your body using the second strongest point of your argument/idea. Reel your audiences back again on your side.

Do a Final Checking

Speech writing is easy if you have the right knowledge of making an excellent one. Read thoroughly and understand the guidelines. Just follow all the steps. You can also try reading other sources for more information. Remember to make your speech memorable and powerful.

Orwell’s Writing Rules: How to Write With Clarity

If people couldn’t write well, George Orwell famously said, they couldn’t think well. And if they couldn’t think well, others would do the thinking for them. It’s fitting that Nineteen Eighty-Four , the dystopian novel about the consequences of totalitarianism, is Orwell’s most notable work. But he was also a prolific writer of non-fiction books, poetry and essays about politics and culture. Orwell’s writing rules emerged from one of those essays. Here is their origin story and how Orwell’s guidelines can help us to think for ourselves and write with clarity.

What Are George Orwell’s Rules for Writing?

George Orwell’s rules for writing are a set of six guidelines the author offered in his essay Politics and the English Language . In this piece, Orwell discusses the decline of the English language and the ways in which it’s used to manipulate and obfuscate meaning. The author takes issue with lazy writing in politics and the habit of using sloppy thinking and empty phrases that lead to bad policies. His six rules for better writing are as follows:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Taking into consideration the contemporary writing style, notwithstanding the imminent consequences of preferring protracted sentences and refraining from eschewing egregious obfuscations, the littérateur takes the bull by the horns in advocating for a, by all means, more forthright view of the craftwork of penmanship. Put less obnoxiously, Orwell’s writing rules are about simplicity and clear thinking.

Breaking Down Orwell’s Writing Rules

Let’s break them down one by one. Here are the six rules everyone can follow to avoid producing meaningless drivel.

1. Originality

With the first rule, Orwell cautions writers not to rely on overused phrases and clichés. Idioms and metaphors that regularly appear in print are easily recognisable. The problem is that such tropes can also come across as generic and unoriginal. In other words, time-worn phrases weaken your writing. By avoiding them, you have more room for your own expressions, which makes your writing authentic.

So instead of sending scientists “back to the drawing board”, open with a more specific phrase to make your point. Such as: “New data on the Dunning-Kruger Effect suggests it may not be real.” It has the same meaning without sounding overused. So practice playing with linguistic conventions to achieve originality. As the late contrarian Christopher Hitchens put it:

Avoid stock expressions (like the plague, as William Safire used to say) and repetitions. Don’t say that as a boy your grandmother used to read to you, unless at that stage of her life she really was a boy, in which case you have probably thrown away a better intro. If something is worth hearing or listening to, it’s very probably worth reading. So, this above all: Find your own voice.

2. Simplicity

Simplicity is a core principle of Orwell’s rules for writing. According to the novelist, you should always ask yourself if you can say something with fewer syllables or letters. Because some words are more equal than others. For example, choose words over the term vocabulary . Instead of utilise or effectuate , say use . Any letter you can shave off that doesn’t change the meaning will make your message more concise and easier to understand.

This extends to phrases with more than a word. Until such time as may sound smart. So does due to the fact . On the downside they clutter up your sentences, distracting the reader from the parts that matter. If you can, use until and because instead. Speaking of cluttering up your sentences. Simplicity is closely related to Orwell’s third writing rule about brevity.

The average English sentence has 17 words. Give or take. Short sentences are easy to understand. Long sentences, on the other hand, require more use of our brain power and therefore run the quite real risk of being confusing. One way to keep the above-mentioned sentences short, concise and to the point is by eliminating unnecessary or superfluous words. The changes I made to this last sentence cut the word count almost in half. The meaning is the same.

Remember, George Orwell’s writing rules emphasise the importance of clear and precise language. Long sentences can dilute the impact of your message. So when editing, consider replacing phrases such as at this moment in time with now . Think about the value each word you wrote adds. She was happy. is a perfectly fine sentence. Chances are, adding a very makes no difference. Take it from Robert Greene who knows the irresistible power of saying less than necessary :

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish. Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

4. Active Voice

Another battleground of clear and simple writing is grammar. And the passive in particular. Using the passive is not a bad choice per se. But it should be a deliberate one. You can either write that mistakes were made , which makes the sentence sound more distant and less direct. Or you choose the active form: We made mistakes. Now, the sentence becomes more concise and assertive.

In Orwell’s context of political writing, the active option provides more clarity. The passive voice tends to create ambiguity and evasiveness. It’s the language of an impersonal bureaucracy that avoids taking responsibility for its actions. As such the passive has the reputation as a tool for obfuscation and manipulation. So writers should be aware of the underlying message they’re sending when using it.

No doubt, technical terms, jargon and foreign phrases have their Daseinsberechtigung . However, the use of such terms often alienates and excludes readers who are not familiar with them. Technical terms have to be unpacked to be understood. This creates a barrier to understanding and undermines the goal of clear and accessible communication.

Instead, Orwell argued, writers should strive to make their writing as widely understandable as possible, particularly when discussing complex or important topics. Abstract or vague locutions should make way for concrete words to make your writing more vivid and engaging.

I have yet to hear a teacher talk about their milestone achievements with regard to their increased impact on student progress . At least outside teacher conferences. What they do worry about is how their students can learn more. In the first example, the use of jargon obscures the meaning of the sentence. Written in plain English, the message becomes clearer and more credible, too.

6. Flexibility

In writing rule number six, Orwell recognises that his guidelines are not set in stone. (As you can see I just violated rule #1 and the Earth is still spinning.) Good writing is as much about clarity as it is about variety. In Orwell’s mind, the goal is not to sound like an unaccountable and soulless bureaucrat or politician. So if it doesn’t get in the way of clear thinking and helps convey the truth go ahead and break the rules.

If an idiom or metaphor best expresses what you want to say, use it. Choose long words if they’re a better fit for what you want to say. Don’t shy away from varying your sentence lengths to give your writing a pleasant rhythm . Deploy the passive before betraying a friend who made a mistake. And definitely use the shared jargon of your profession so as to avoid looking like a complete numbskull in front of your peers.

Closing Thoughts

Orwell’s writing rules must be seen within the context of his essay on language and politics. Still, they offer valuable insights into effective writing and are widely regarded as helpful principles by many writers. They’re in line with the advice from other great authors I refer to in my article about how to get better at writing . By incorporating these principles into your writing, you can enhance the clarity, simplicity and readability of your work.

That said, Orwell admitted that his rules did not only “sound elementary”. They indeed were. That wasn’t the real point, though. The benefit was in a “deep change of attitude” in anyone whose writing was characterised by lazy thinking. Following all six rules wouldn’t automatically turn you into a very good writer. But it would make it impossible for you to produce meaningless technocratic nonsense.

Chris Meyer

I'm a writer, analyst and teacher with over 15 years of experience and a background in the military, martial arts and failing at things. I enjoy exploring new ideas and making them more accessible.

• The Tenth Man Rule
• Baloney Detection Kit
• Four Stages of Competence
• Hierarchy of Disagreement
• The 48 Laws of Power
• Top 25 Interesting Ideas
• 5 Habits of the Master Thinker
• The Feynman Technique 2.0
• Zen Stories
• Orwell's Writing Rules

How To Format Dialogue In A Novel (With Examples)?

How to format dialogue in a novel is a question every writer faces at some point in their writing journey. The truth is that even experienced writers can struggle with understanding the best way to write speech.

The rules for writing dialogue, and how to punctuate punctuation, can often seem confusing and contradictory, with dialogue tags and punctuation marks only adding to the confusion.

In this article, you’ll discover how to format written dialogue. You’ll learn simple rules for writing dialogue like a pro and you’ll come away with an understanding of formatting dialogue that will allow you to write with freedom.

Table of Contents

New Speaker, New Paragraph

Adding quotation marks, the fundamentals of punctuation, attribution (dialogue tags).

• Why use beats?

Direct Dialogue and Reported Dialogue

Dialogue in paragraphs, about attribution before dialogue, he said versus said he, frequently asked questions.

When formatting dialogue, 'new speaker, new paragraph' is a great place to start. This is a simple rule to apply and one that should not be broken under any circumstance.

The rule is that each new speaker should have their own paragraph. This means that, if John and Bill are in a conversation, each time a speaker changes to another character, you make a new paragraph.

Take a look at this example below, it will help when you come to write dialogue. We’ll be using this same example throughout the article, and you will see it evolve as each new rule is applied.

As it stands, it is just a lump of unformatted text, all in one paragraph. At this stage, don’t worry about anything other than the “new speaker, new paragraph” rule.

hi said John as he stretched out his hand hello joked Bill shaking John’s hand have you been here long John questioned no I’ve just arrived Bill said ok

This is not the most inspiring of exchanges, but it will help to demonstrate each rule as it is learned.

The “new speaker, new paragraph” rule tells us that, each time John or Bill speaks, their dialogue should be in a separate paragraph. Let’s apply the rule.

The example now reads …

This is still in a pretty raw state, but you can already see how it will help you to write dialogue.

Having started our formatting dialogue journey by separating the different speakers into new paragraphs, we now turn our attention to the spoken words and the use of quotation marks.

It is important that the reader is able to distinguish the words of the narrator (sometimes called narrative summary) from the words of the characters (dialogue). We do this through the use of quotation marks.

I am sure you get this, but let me drill this point home.

When writing dialogue, it is essential that you see the words the characters speak (“Hi,” “Hello,” etc.) as separate from those of the narrator (said John as he stretched out his hand).

In its most simple form, this is done by using quotation marks to indicate that words are being spoken.

In fact, when teaching writing, one of the first topics I address is to get authors to see their novels as made up of both characters AND a narrator. If you are able to separate these in your mind, many of the advanced writing techniques (which are outside the scope of this article) are so much easier to grasp.

Anyway, back to formatting dialogue...

Now we need to add quotation marks in our example. These are simple punctuation marks that are added at the start and end of words spoken by your characters.

Before we apply the rule to our specific example, it is worth taking a moment to discuss the two types of quotation marks you’ll see used.

These are single quotation marks (‘) and double quotation marks (“) .

Despite what you may read elsewhere, there is no “correct” quotation mark to use; both single quotation marks and double quotation marks are OK, depending on the usage.

This all said, there is a rule of thumb. Most American authors tend to use double quotation marks as their default for dialogue, while British authors tend to use single quotation marks. However, you must pick one type of quotation mark and stick with it. If you start with single quotation marks for dialogue, then use single quotation marks all throughout your book. If you start with double quotation marks, then stick with double quotation marks. I am sure you get the picture. Be consistent.

There is an occasion where you’d mix single quotation marks and double quotation marks, but there’s no need to worry about that yet, and we’ll deal with this later.

Let’s apply this to our particular example (we are going to use double quotation marks for our US authors here). I am going to sandwich each phrase spoken by the characters in between a pair of quotation marks. Remember, characters and narrator are different people.

“hi” said John as he stretched out his hand “hello” joked Bill shaking John’s hand “have you been here long” John questioned “no I’ve just arrived” Bill said “ok”

You’ll see here that we have added an opening quotation mark where the character starts speaking and then another when they stopped speaking (a closing quotation mark). If using curly quotation marks, as is the US standard, then you can easily tell the opening from the closing mark, whether a single quotation mark or a double quotation mark.

Remember, only put quotation marks around words spoken by characters. Actions and description coming from the narrator should never be placed within quotation marks.

NOTE: Here is one exception that comes to mind when formatting dialogue. Sometimes added emphasis is put on a word of narration and either italics or quotation marks are used for that. Example: She wasn’t sure when “later” would come. Alternate example: She wasn’t sure when later would come.

The most common problem we see with dialogue punctuation is when an author uses a comma or period incorrectly. This happens when an author treats the words spoken by a character and those spoken by the narrator as either (1) two different sentences when they should be one sentence, or (2) as one sentence when they should be two separate sentences.

Let me give you an example of dialogue punctuation:

“hi” said John as he stretched out his hand

HI - is spoken by the character.

This sentence has two elements, the words of the character and the words of the narrator.

SAID JOHN AS HE STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND - is the narrator.

Most authors know this instinctively and would have no problem telling these apart, if you asked them to explain the structure of the sentence. The problem begins in knowing the rules on how they should be punctuated.

So here, HI is spoken by the character and SAID JOHN AS HE STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND are the words of the narrator.

You must NOT see these as two separate sentences, but as dialogue connected to narration by a dialogue tag (“said” or “asked” usually).

These two elements are just one sentence connected by a dialogue tag:

Said/Asked Sentence = character’s words + narrator’s words.

Now we can add some punctuation marks. We have established that this is a single sentence with a dialogue tag, and we know that most sentences end with a period. Therefore, we can add this period to our example.

“hi” said John as he stretched out his hand.

The next problem is how we show the reader where the character’s words end and the narrator’s words begin. The quotation marks do a lot of the heavy lifting here, but this sentence does need further punctuation.

The most common mistake we see in this situation is that the author will put a period between the character’s words and the narrator’s words.

“hi.” said John as he stretched out his hand. [WRONG]

This is wrong. You should not do this when writing dialogue. As we have established, this is a single sentence with a dialogue tag, and the moment you add a period, it then becomes two sentences.

To drill this home, I'll say it again …

What we must NOT do is put a period between HI and SAID. This is not the end of the sentence.

However, you are correct in thinking that we need some kind of mark to separate the spoken words from the narrative. The punctuation mark we use here is a comma. This way the words for the character and the narrator remain part of the same sentence when a dialogue tag is present.

The comma is saying to the reader, “Oh, look. The character has spoken, but I still have something to add to this sentence, so keep reading.”

Our example now becomes:

“hi,” said John as he stretched out his hand. [CORRECT]

Another very, very common mistake I see is for the punctuation mark to be on the wrong side of the quotation marks.

“hi,” said John as he stretched out his hand. [CORRECT] “hi”, said John as he stretched out his hand. [WRONG]

As we have discussed, this example is just a single sentence that uses quotation marks and a comma with a dialogue tag to connect words spoken by the character and the narrator.

OK, let’s go back to our schooling and apply another very basic rule. We know that all sentences must start with a capital letter. So, let’s add that to our example.

We now get:

"Hi," said John as he stretched out his hand.

This sentence is now correctly formatted for our purposes here. This is how you should be writing dialogue.

We can apply these rules to the rest of the example (and when you come to write dialogue).

Applying our dialogue punctuation rules, this becomes:

"Hi," said John as he stretched out his hand. "Hello," joked Bill shaking John’s hand. "Have you been here long?" John questioned. [NOTE: Had this been a sentence, like the other paragraphs in this example, the comma would be appropriate. However, here we have a question, so a question mark is needed in place of the comma. All the other rules apply regardless.] "No I’ve just arrived," Bill said. "Ok."

Notice that we’ve:

• Added capital letters to the start of each sentence.
• Added a period to the end of each sentence.
• Added commas between the spoken words and the narration (or question marks, as needed). These are inside the closing quotation marks.

If you look at the last sentence, you will see that it is a single word from a character but with no additional narration. This is still a single sentence, so the same rules apply. It starts with a capital letter and a period is added at the end. The period is before the closing quotation mark.

In the last section, we looked at the fundamentals of dialogue punctuation. You learned the tools you need to correctly format basic dialogue. We will take this one step further and look at attribution (sometimes called “tagging” or “dialogue tags”).

Attribution, or dialogue tags, is basically showing the reader which of your characters is speaking, an ID. It is how the reader knows how is speaking when you are writing dialogue.

If we look at the first line of our example, we see the following:

Here the dialogue (in this case HI) is being attributed to John. In other words John is saying hi. It is that simple. This is attribution.

We can see that 'said john' is an example of the use of a dialogue tag.

So, 'Hi' is the dialogue and 'said John' is the dialogue tag.

In addition to showing the reader who is speaking, dialogue tags also tell the reader how the words are spoken. The most common (and best) form of dialogue tag is said.

Let's take this a little further.

Here's the second line in our example:

"Hello," joked Bill shaking John's hand.

The dialogue (in this case HELLO) is correctly attributed to Bill, but, rather than using SAID, we've used JOKED as a dialogue tag.

Dialogue tags (he said, she said, etc.) seems easy to understand, but there are some hidden traps. Authors often become bored of using SAID and start to use other forms of attribution. This is what we have done on the second line of our example, where we use JOKED instead of SAID.

This is actually a mistake, and many experienced authors would not consider it "best practice".

In fact, as a rule of thumb, you should avoid using any dialogue tag other than SAID or ASKED if at all possible.

So, why is it so wrong to tag dialogue in this way?

The simplest answer is that it looks amateurish. It's the kind of dialogue you see in a schoolkid's textbook or from a two-bit creative writing class. If you use this type of attribution, you will be flagging yourself as a newbie author with little confidence in your ability to SHOW the speaker's emotion. Instead, you will come across as a newbie author who needs to TELL the reader every little thing that's happening.

[Anyone notice I added a bit of show, don't tell? No? … Good, I got away with it.]

There is a more complex reason …

When you write, “Bill joked,” you are TELLING the author the way in which Bill is speaking. Telling is bad. It means that you, as an author, are giving the reader no room to manoeuvre. You are spoon-feeding the story to the reader. This pushes the reader on their back foot and leaves them no space to add their own interpretation to the story. Too much TELL and your reader will soon turn off.

The alternative is to SHOW the reader how the speaker is talking. Rather than relying on attributions such as "joked" to TELL the reader, the author must use the context and texture of the scene to SHOW the story. The words and actions that have come before the dialogue will SHOW the reader Bill's frame of mind and will allow the readers to adjust the dialogue within their mind's eye.

This way you are trusting the reader to "lean into" the story and be part of the process. If you look again at the first line in our example ("Hi," said John as he stretched out his hand.), the way in which John says hi is defined by the context of the previous paragraphs. We don't have these earlier paragraphs in this example, but, if this were a section of a novel, we would. For example, if John is meeting Bill in a noisy train station, then the hi might be spoken loudly. However, rather than writing "he said loudly," you allow the reader to make this decision. The reader is then forced to be part of the process and is sucked into your writing in a way that TELLING can never achieve.

This process is actually the secret source to great writing and is something that can take years to master. I actually wrote a free ebook on this very topic, if you wish to learn more.

So … what's the best practice when adding attribution to dialogue?

The answer is use SAID (or ASKED, as appropriate), as a dialogue tag.

Said is actually a magic word.

Readers are so used to seeing it that they start to ignore the word and "said" almost becomes a punctuation mark in its own right. This means that your dialogue starts to flow, and the reader will move quickly from speaker to speaker, adding in their own context and details as they go. When this flow starts to happen, the reader is fully captured by your writing.

OK … this is heavy stuff and difficult to apply, but, when you get it right, it will lift your writing to a new level.

Yet it is not all unicorns and rainbows; there is a side effect to this approach. You can get a lot of SAID ping-pong.

Take this example, keep a close eye on the dialogue tags:

"Hi," John said. "Hi," Peter said. "How are you doing?" John asked. "Good," Peter said. "You?" "Good. Thanks for asking," John said.

As you see, we have lots of "John said" and "Peter said" repetitions.

The reader is forced to jump from SAID to SAID. This quickly becomes overwhelming (and a bit boring) for the reader.

There's actually a very simple solution.

Just don't add an attribution each time!

When SAID is too repetitious, just don't use anything, after you have identified each speaker at the beginning of the dialogue exchange.

Readers aren't stupid. As an author you must trust in your ability to paint a picture and the reader's ability to fill in the blanks. If there are just two people speaking in a scene, the reader does not need to be told time and again who is speaking. This means you can just ignore the attribution, once you initially ID (“tag”) each of the two speakers.

Here's the example from above, written with a bit of common sense:

"Hi," John said. "Hi," Peter said. "How you doing?" "Good. You?" "Good. Thanks for asking."

This is how you should be writing dialogue.

This is not rocket science but will require you to think about dialogue slightly differently to apply this rule on a consistent basis.

In this section, we looked at the role of attribution and how you must rely on the words before and surrounding the dialogue to give context to the spoken words. In this section, we look at this in more detail and examine a method you can use to control the context of your work when you come to write dialogue.

We learned that, if we tell the reader how a character is speaking (he joked or she said loudly), then we are not giving the reader a chance to be part of the story. Instead, we are spoon-feeding the story to them and pushing them on their back foot.

If we remove this telling and create a "space" between the reader and the character, then the reader will lean into the story and add their own meaning.

Let me dwell on this a second. The concept of "space" is a term I use to describe the situation in which the author allows the reader to add their own context to the story. If we are not telling the reader how the words are spoken but are instead just showing them the situation, the "space" is the gap that the reader must fill.

Anyway, onward ...

In the last section we looked at attribution, but, in each of the examples we used, the attribution was added at the end of the dialogue.

For example:

Notice that the attribution (said John) is after the spoken words. However, though this is the most common way of presenting attribution, it is not the only solution.

It is possible (and sometimes desirable) to break up the dialogue by adding the attribution in the middle of the spoken words.

See this example:

"Hi. I'm taking the dog for a walk," said John, "then I'll buy some milk."

One thing to remember is that you must keep the punctuation consistent. One of the most common elements which trips up authors is which punctuation mark to use after the attribution. The answer to this is that it depends on the dialogue pattern.

If you are splitting a sentence, then it should be with a comma. However, if you are at the end of a sentence and before the start of another sentence, then use a period.

Another way to think about this is to ask yourself the question: is this one or two sentences? If one, then use a comma; if two, then go for the period.

Here's an example of splitting a sentence. Let's say we have this line of dialogue:

"I wanted to get a bus, but the wait was too long, so I walked home instead."

I am going to add in the attribution after the "too long". The sentence remains intact, so we use a comma. Also notice that “so” has no capital letter. Why would it be capitalized here in this sentence's construction? It is not a new sentence.

"I wanted to get a bus, but the wait was too long," said John, "so I walked home instead."

Here's an example that is two different sentences.

"I really like cats. Some people like dogs, but I think they bark too much."

I am adding the attribution after "cats". Notice here that we now use a period after "said John" and that "Some" remains spelled with an initial capital letter. Also notice that we replace the period after "cats" with a comma, as it ties in with the attribution.

"I really like cats," said John. "Some people like dogs, but I think they bark too much."

Why Use Beats?

So far we have looked at the nitty-gritty of punctuating sentences with an attribution that splits up the sentence(s), but we have not addressed the question as to why, and when, doing this is a good idea. After all, the whole point of this article is to teach you to write dialogue that works.

You would use this technique for a number of reasons. This includes controlling the pace of the story, adding description and fleshing out your characters. However, in this case, there are two reasons that are important.

The first is to just add some variety in the flow of your dialogue. If you have a long section of dialogue, then you may want to break up the sentence structure a little and do something different for the reader. This also combats any potential SAID ping-pong (as discussed in the previous section).

The second reason is to add a “beat.” This is a short section of description in the middle of the dialogue. Beats are a very powerful way to add context to your spoken words.

Beats are a very masterful tool. Below is an example of a beat in action. Remember, in this situation, the beat has a very specific job: to add new context to a scene.

“I don't see any other birthday girls, do you?” John looked around in an exaggerated motion, before leaning in and kissing his sister on the cheek. “You'd better open it quick. It's not the kind of present that likes to be kept waiting.”

Now here's the same example without the beat:

“I don't see any other birthday girls, do you? You'd better open it quick. It's not the kind of present that likes to be kept waiting.”

The beat is the section of description within dialogue. In the example above, the beat is how John looks around and kisses his sister.

A beat is nothing more complex than that, just a bit of description you add in between dialogue.

When using beats, you give a small bit of information, which you use to bring life to your character's words. Remember, we are adding context. Since you are not going to be adding in all those nasty adverbs , you must give the reader the context they need to fill in the gaps. With beats, you are giving the reader clues about your characters, so the readers can add their own meaning to your character's words.

Look at the new example below of how to format dialogue:

John stood in the car park of the pub. It was dark, and the sky promised rain. A taxi pulled into the parking lot and made a circuit, before coming to a stop in front of John. The driver rolled down his window, his dark skin and black hair visible in the dashboard lights. "You order a taxi?" His voice was tinged with an oriental accent. "No," John said, shuffling back from the car. The driver shrugged and fumbled with his radio, speaking into it in a language John didn't understand. A voice on the other end responded, too muffled for John to hear. The driver leaned over again. "You sure, mate?" "Yeah," John said. "I am sure." "Ah …" the driver said. "Do you want a lift anyway?" "Aren't you supposed to only pick up planned fares?" There was a pause. "It doesn't matter. I am waiting for my sister. She'll be here any moment." "OK," the driver said and pulled from the lot. John watched the car leave, making a mental note of the plate number.

In this example, the beats have been used to add in some context for the reader; they are also adding clues for the reader about the character's thoughts and feelings.

Here's the same example, with the beats highlighted and explained:

John stood in the car park of the pub. It was dark, and the sky promised rain. A taxi pulled into the parking lot and made a circuit, before coming to a stop in front of John. [This is description delivered via narrative summary. Strictly speaking, the "promised rain" is TELL (I should have described the clouds), but it works in this context.] The driver rolled down his window, his dark skin and black hair visible in the dashboard lights. [BEAT: This is a description prior to dialogue. The dark skin SHOWING the reader the driver is not white. I could have said “the Asian driver,” but that's TELLING.] "You order a taxi?" His voice was tinged with an oriental accent. "No," John said, shuffling back from the car. [BEAT: I've decided that John distrusts Asian people. I am not sure why he's a racist, but that doesn't matter here, since it is not essential to the plot. Therefore, his internal voice says he mistrusts Asian people, and this is reflected in his actions. I am SHOWING the reader he is racist via his actions.] The driver shrugged and fumbled with his radio, speaking into it in a language John didn't understand. A voice on the other end responded, too muffled for John to hear. The driver leaned over again. [BEAT: This is really a section of narrative summary, but, since it dissects dialogue, it is, technically, a beat.] "You sure, mate?" "Yeah," John said. "I am sure." "Ah …" the driver said. "Do you want a lift anyway?" "Aren't you supposed to only pick up planned fares?" There was a pause. [BEAT: Slows the pace. Also suggests John is considering his next action. It is up to the reader to decide what John is thinking.] "It doesn't matter. I am waiting for my sister. She'll be here any moment." "OK," the driver said and pulled from the lot. John watched the car leave, making a mental note of the plate number. [BEAT: John watches the car and makes a note. This is his backstory at work, his prejudice forcing John to think the worst of the Asian driver.]

I would also ask you to consider the fact that only "said" has been used for attributions here. There's no need for adverbs.

The final thing to say about beats is for them not to be overused. Long sections of dialogue are good. You do want to create a rhythm and allow the reader to become comfortable with your writing style. Yet a balance is needed. Too many beats and the dialogue drags; not enough and it whips by. Ultimately it is your choice.

It is common for authors to be slightly confused by the concept of direct and reported dialogue and how each should be punctuated. It is yet another tricky aspect of how to format dialogue.

Direct dialogue is the easiest to understand. These are any original words a character says. In all the examples you have seen, we have only used direct dialogue.

For example: "Hi," John said - direct dialogue.

Reported dialogue is when a character is saying something that another character has already said. Before you look at an example, we need to consider the punctuation of reported dialogue.

As we have said in a previous section, dialogue uses either single or double quotation marks, depending on whether you choose to use British grammar rules or American, respectively. What is important to remember is that, when formatting reported dialogue within direct dialogue, you use the opposite of that which you use for direct dialogue.

So … if you are using single quotation marks for direct dialogue (per British grammar rules), then use double quotes for reported dialogue. Thus, for US authors using American grammar rules, then your default is double quotation marks around direct dialogue, with single quotation marks for reported dialogue.

Here's the US example …

"I was talking to Sarah, and she was going on about her dog. ‘She is really fluffy,' she said time and again. God, I hate that ‘fluffy' dog," said John.

You'll notice here that not only is John a bit of a dick but he reported what Sarah said. SHE IS REALLY FLUFFY was spoken originally by Sarah and only reported by John. As was the second use of FLUFFY.

There will be times, when writing your novel, that you want a character to give a long uninterrupted dialogue. However, you will probably not be comfortable putting all those words into one long paragraph.

The way to deal with this situation is to split the single-speaker's dialogue into separate paragraphs. However, in order to indicate to the reader that the SAME speaker is still talking, you need to leave out the closing quotation mark at the end of the trailing paragraphs, until the final paragraph of THIS speaker's dialogue.

The example below (taken from Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech) should make it clear:

"I have a dream that—one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification—one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. "I have a dream today. "I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

Notice that each paragraph of dialogue starts with an opening quotation mark, but only the last paragraph has a closing quotation mark at the end.

Strictly speaking this should have been in the attribution section, but this is more of a suggestion than a rule. In recent years it has been considered bad practice to start a section of dialogue with the attribution.

See the example below:

John said, "I am happy to go to Sarah's house but don't expect me to touch her stupid dog."

In an ideal world the attribution should be at the end or perhaps after “house.”

The reason I've left this suggestion out of the attribution section is that there's no logical reason why you can't start a sentence with an attribution. Personally, I feel it is a little clumsy but hardly a crime. If you wish to format dialogue this way, so be it. This said, the trend in editing is to move away from starting dialogue with the attribution, which is now considered a sign of amateur authors.

While on the topic of trends in writing, I think something should be said about the order of the attribution.

For example, this would be considered wrong:

"Hi," said John.

The correct version would be:

"Hi," John said.

Again this is one of those suggestions rather than rules. However, I'd consider it to be a best writing practice. The thinking behind it is that you would say "he said" but not "said he."

This detailed guide about dialogue format has given you everything you need to know to format dialogue correctly. However, if you are interested in getting professional editorial feedback for your writing, we can help. Alternatively, you may wish to work one-on-one with a book coach.

If you are interested in using more advanced techniques to write better dialogue in your novel , check out this article.

Below are some frequently asked questions that will provide you more information.

What are the basic rules for formatting dialogue in a story?

The basic rules for formatting dialogue in a story include using quotation marks around the spoken words, separating the dialogue from the rest of the text with a new line or indentation, and including the appropriate punctuation within the quotation marks. Additionally, it's important to clearly indicate who is speaking through the use of character tags and proper capitalization.

How can I format dialogue effectively to make it easy to read?

To format dialogue effectively and make it easy to read, it's important to keep it concise and to the point, and to use proper punctuation. Additionally, using different formatting techniques such as character tags, action beats, and body language can help to break up long blocks of dialogue and make it easier for the reader to follow the conversation.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when formatting dialogue in a story?

Some common mistakes to avoid when formatting dialogue in a story include failing to properly punctuate the dialogue, not clearly indicating who is speaking, and using long blocks of uninterrupted dialogue that can become confusing for the reader. It's also important to avoid using too many character tags or excessive description that can slow down the pace of the conversation.

Further Reading

• What Are The 7 Rules Of Writing Dialogue?
• How Do You Write A Good Dialogue? (With Examples)

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"Audience" by InUse, licensed for use on Flickr .

How to Hook Your Audience: The Rule of Three

May 16, 2017 | yalepress | Current Affairs , Humanities

David Crystal—

If there’s one thing that seems to promote eloquent language more than anything else, that is found repeatedly in the speech of any orator I’ve ever listened to, that appears in every language I’ve ever studied, it’s the “rule of three.”

Eloquence is infectious. You notice a clever trick in an eloquent speech and think to yourself, “I could do that.” So you try it out. And if it works, you keep it in your repertoire. One of the best bits of advice if you’re an inexperienced speaker is to listen to as many speeches as possible, and cherry-pick the successful strategies that you think will best suit your own personal style.

The rule of three is one of the oldest tricks in the eloquence business. All public speakers know that they can get a round of applause if they use a triple with structural parallelism:

I was with you yesterday! I am with you today! And I will be with you tomorrow! [Cheers]

You have to put it across effectively, of course, with a crescendo peaking on the third item. It would be a curiously bathetic effect if you started with maximum loudness on the first item and ended with a pianissimo on the third.

What you must never do, of course, is overdo it. Imagine a speaker who has just produced a triple like that. If he went on to immediately produce another one, the effect would begin to pall.

I said this in Brussels! I said it in New York! And I am saying it now in London! [Cheers??]

If a rhetorical trick is used twice in quick succession, listeners begin to notice it, and that’s the worst thing that can happen to a speaker. When the style gets in front of the message it becomes a distraction instead of a reinforcement. It’s the same with any art form: seeing the brush strokes rather than the painting, or hearing the virtuoso playing rather than the concerto. The French essayist Michel de Montaigne makes the point: “Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself not for its substance.”

The strategy operates regardless of gender, age, class, or occupation:

We now know that it is not government, but free enterprise, which is capable of creating wealth, providing jobs and raising living standards. (Margaret Thatcher, 12 December 1990) Talk to your friends, your family, your neighbours. (Hillary Clinton, 13 June 2015) . . . . . . a time defined by selfishness and greed, inculcated cruelty and institutionalized self-centeredness . . . (Russell Brand, 28 July 2015) . . . they should be more clear with us about who the military is fighting for, who our tax dollars are supporting and, ultimately, how much does the prime rib cost? (Lady Gaga, 20 September 2010)

And a powerful double triple from Aung Sang Suu Kyi:

It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear.

If we explore their entire speeches, we find triples popping up all over the place, but not in such a way that they draw attention to themselves. That’s the clever bit: to hide the virtuosity.

How is it done? By varying the way in which triples are used. It’s not just clauses that can be grouped in threes. It could be phrases, single words, or whole paragraphs. Obama uses each of these in his next three paragraphs. Here they are in full, with the triples in bold and main pauses marked by dashes (and including any hesitancies, such as “th” below):

It’s – the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches — in numbers this nation has never seen — by people who waited three hours and four hours — many for the first time in their lives — because they believed that this time – must be different — that their voices – could be that difference. It’s the answer spoken by young and old — rich and poor — Democrat and Republican — black, white — Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight – disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world – that we have never been – just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states – we are and always will be the United States of America. It’s the answer – th that led those – who’ve been told for so long – by so many to be cynical – and fearful – and doubtful about what we can achieve – to put their hands on the arc of history — and bend it once more toward – the hope of a better day. – It’s been a long time coming – but tonight – because of what we did on this day – in this election – at this defining moment – change has come to America.

Triples continue throughout the rest of the speech, as we’ll see, but at intervals, so that they don’t become intrusive.

What tricks are used to fill the spaces between the triples? A different stylistic technique is needed, to provide variety and maintain pace, and the most common is the “magical number two” – the use of pairs, and pairs within pairs. Here’s the second paragraph again, but this time with the pairs in square brackets:

It’s – the answer told [by lines that stretched around [schools and churches] — in numbers this nation has never seen] — [by people who waited [three hours and four hours] — many for the first time in their lives] — because they believed [that this time – must be different — that their voices – could be that difference].

The “by lines” and “by people” contrast is a pair – but each contains another pair. Note how, strictly speaking, the pairing is unnecessary. He could have said simply:

lines that stretched around buildings . . . by people who waited hours . . .

but the pairing is semantically more concrete and rhythmically more effective. A triad would have been unwise here, for the underlying meaning is actually rather banal, and to keep it going would be to produce a feeling of padding:

by people who waited three hours and four hours and five hours . . .

Speakers who haven’t really got anything to say do this a lot. The speech fills the time, but listeners go away wondering what they got out of it.

Pairs, as with triples, have to vary if they’re not to become boring. The main pairings in the second paragraph are quite complex – whole clauses. What Obama does in his third paragraph is, to my mind, the most daring piece in the whole speech: a list almost entirely consisting of pairs:

It’s the answer spoken by [young and old] — [rich and poor] — [Democrat and Republican] — [black, white] – Hispanic, Asian, Native American [gay, straight] – [disabled and not disabled] – Americans who sent a message to the world – that we have never been – just [a collection of individuals] or [a collection of [red states] and [blue states]] – we [are and always will be] the United States of America.

Beware lists, especially lists of people! They’re dangerous things, because they prompt listeners to notice who might have been left out – although that day I don’t think anyone was counting. This was a hugely effective listing, which generated sporadic applause throughout.

You’ll have noticed that the pairs aren’t all the same. Some pairs are linked by and , and some aren’t. The “collection” pairing is linked by or . Why? Just as triads have to vary to avoid monotony, so do pairs. It could become a boring list otherwise. But there’s a subtle semantic issue also. The omission of and reduces the force of the contrast and allows the suggestion that the list can be extended. Unlike young and old and the others, the list of ethnic groups is open- ended. It implies that there are other groups apart from the ones mentioned, and this suggestion is reinforced by an uncoordinated triple ( Hispanic, Asian, Native American . . .). Notice how this effect would be lost if and were added: Hispanic, Asian, and Native American . Running straight on to gay, straight without a pause also helps to avoid giving the impression that the list is complete.

From The Gift of the Gab by David Crystal , published by Yale University Press in 2016. Reproduced by permission.

David Crystal is an independent scholar with lifelong experience as a lecturer, public speaker, and broadcaster. He lives in Holyhead, UK.

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