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How to Format Dialogue in Your Novel or Short Story

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Aug 30, 2021 • 4 min read

Whether you’re working on a novel or short story, writing dialogue can be a challenge . If you’re concerned about how to punctuate dialogue or how to format your quotation marks, fear not; the rules of dialogue in fiction and nonfiction can be mastered by following a few simple rules.

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Last updated on Jul 24, 2023

6 Unbreakable Dialogue Punctuation Rules All Writers Must Know

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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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• Punctuation |

Quotation marks

How to punctuate dialogue in fiction.

The goal of structuring and punctuating dialogue

Structure and punctuate the dialogue in your novel or story to make readers believe they are listening to a real conversation and watching your characters interact with one another. You want to make it clear who is saying what, but achieve this as unobtrusively as possible.

Enclose direct speech (also called quoted speech, in which you repeat a character’s exact words) in quotation marks.

• “The cake tastes like bread,” Maya said.
• Lulu said, “The water tastes like paper.”
• “And the apples smell like tangerines,” said Farley.
• “Run!” she shouted.
• He asked, “Why?”

In American and Canadian writing, double quotation marks enclose quoted speech. Single quotes are generally used instead as speech marks in British, Australian, and other writing.

Use a comma to separate quoted speech from the speaker.

• “This vacation is boring , ” said Lulu.
• “I knew that , ” Maya said.
• She yelled , “Dragon!”
• Farley said , “I can’t find my shoes.”

Such clauses (“Maya said,” “she yelled”) identify the speaker and are called speech tags. Use commas both before and after a speech tag if it interrupts a speaker’s sentence.

• “The cake , ” she said , “tastes like bread.”
• “Why , ” she wondered , “do we need money?”

But use a period after a speech tag if a new sentence of quoted speech begins after it.

• “The cake tastes like bread,” said Maya . “ T he tea smells of coffee.”
• “I don’t know,” she said . “ Y ou can ask him yourself.”
• “We sell all kinds of packages,” Poco said . “ L et me show you our catalog.”

Capitalization

Capitalize the first word of a sentence of direct or quoted speech.

• Maya said, “ T he hens are loose again.”
• Lulu asked, “ D o you know where they are?”
• Farley cried, “ N ot again!”
• “ W e haven’t booked our tickets yet,” said Maya.

Capitalize the first word after a speech tag if it starts a new sentence.

• “We’ll call him again tonight,” Maya said. “ M aybe this time he’ll answer.” A new sentence begins after the speech tag.
• “Is he here?” she asked. “ W e need to speak with him.”

If a sentence of quoted speech that began before a speech tag continues after it (i.e., the speech tag appears mid-sentence), don’t capitalize the word that follows.

• “I think,” Maya said, “ w e should call him again tonight.” The same sentence continues after the speech tag.
• “Do you know,” she asked, “ i f he is here yet?”

Question marks and exclamation points

If a line of quoted speech ends in a question mark or an exclamation point, omit the comma that generally appears before the speech tag.

• Incorrect: “Who are you? , ” she asked. Correct: “Who are you?” she asked.
• Incorrect: “It’s here! , ” she cried. Correct: “It’s here!” she cried.

However, if the question or exclamation follows the speech tag, use a comma as usual.

• She asked , “Who are you?”
• She cried , “It’s here!”

Dashes and ellipses

Mark interrupted speech using an em dash .

• “You really should—” “Don’t you tell me what to do, Farley Dash!”

An ellipsis (three consecutive periods) can also mark an interruption. More often, it signifies indecision, an incomplete thought, or a pause. In dialogue, an ellipsis can show faltering speech or a thought trailing off.

• Maya asked, “Would you like another slice of chocolate cake?” “Oh, I really shouldn’t, but . . .”
• “I heard . . . what was that? Did you hear that?”

Speech tags: Who said what

Use a speech tag (also called a dialogue tag) to identify the character who is speaking. Here is a dialogue from The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett.

• The tree , in a voice like a very old door swinging open, said , “Serves you right.” There was a long silence. Then Rincewind said , “Did you say that?” “Yes.” “And that too?” “Yes.”

See how the conversation continues without a speech tag attached to every line of dialogue? Once the two speakers have been identified, the reader understands that they take turns speaking. Another speech tag is needed only when a new speaker is introduced or clarification is needed, as in the following conversation from Little Women .

• “Jo does use such slang words!” observed Amy , with a reproving look at the long figure stretched on the rug. Jo immediately sat up, put her hands in her pockets, and began to whistle. “Don’t, Jo. It’s so boyish!” “That’s why I do it.” “I detest rude, unladylike girls!” “I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!” “Birds in their little nests agree,” sang Beth , the peacemaker, with such a funny face that both sharp voices softened to a laugh, and the “pecking” ended for that time. “Really, girls, you are both to be blamed,” said Meg , beginning to lecture in her elder-sisterly fashion.

Omitting unnecessary speech tags helps the reader follow along with minimal disruption. You can also omit speech tags the first time a person speaks if it is clear who is speaking, as in the following excerpt from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , where both boys have already been introduced to us.

• Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved—but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said : “I can lick you!” “I’d like to see you try it.” “Well, I can do it.” “No you can’t, either.” “Yes I can.” “No you can’t.” “I can.” “You can’t.” “Can!” “Can’t!”

Of course in a conversation with more than two characters involved, you may have to use speech tags more often, as in the following extract from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

• We stared at him until he spoke: “Hey.” “Hey yourself,” said Jem pleasantly. “I’m Charles Baker Harris,” he said . “I can read.” “So what?” I said . “I just thought you’d like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin’ I can do it. . .” “How old are you,” asked Jem , “four-and-a-half?” “Goin’ on seven.”

Use clear and simple speech tags. Don’t try to mix things up by unnecessarily finding synonyms for the verb say . Use alternatives to the word said (such as observed , whispered , cried , shouted , yelled , noted , remarked ) only if necessary to convey meaning to the reader.

Action tags

Action tags describe an action different from speaking and merit a sentence of their own. They are therefore separated from speech using a period, unlike speech tags, which take commas.

• “Farley says he ate a whole bar of chocolate this morning,” said Poco, looking up from his phone. Rita leaned forward . “Did he say chocolate ?” “Hmm? Yes. Why?” “Farley hates chocolate. It’s code . ” She got up and peered out the window . “Someone’s watching us.” “Nobody’s watching us, Rita . ” Poco scratched irritably at his chin . “You and Farley are always worrying about nothing.” “Oh yeah?” Rita pointed to the building opposite . “Then who is that?”

Here is an extract from The House of Mirth in which Edith Wharton effectively uses action tags to make us feel we are in the room, watching what’s going on. Note how she uses commas with speech tags but periods with action tags.

• “How delicious to have a place like this all to one’s self! What a miserable thing it is to be a woman . ” She leaned back in a luxury of discontent . Selden was rummaging in a cupboard for the cake. “Even women , ” he said , “have been known to enjoy the privileges of a flat.” “Oh, governesses—or widows. But not girls—not poor, miserable, marriageable girls!” “I even know a girl who lives in a flat.” She sat up in surprise . “You do?” “I do , ” he assured her, emerging from the cupboard with the sought-for cake.

If the action is described in an adverbial phrase appended to a speech tag, use commas as usual, as in the final line of the example above. But don’t use verbs that don’t describe speech as speech tags. Smiling , yawning , winking , and laughing , for example, are acts different from speaking.

• Incorrect: I don’t know what you mean,” she yawned . Correct: “I don’t know what you mean,” she said with a yawn.
• Incorrect: “Here it is,” he smiled . Correct: “Here it is,” he said , smiling.

Of course you can use such verbs in action tags, but use a period then rather than a comma to separate the tag from the speech.

• Incorrect: She yawned , “I don’t know what you mean.” Correct: She yawned . “I don’t know what you mean.”
• Incorrect: He smiled , “Here it is.” Correct: He smiled . “Here it is.”

New line for each speaker

To make it easy for the reader to follow a conversation, use a new line (paragraph change) each time the speaker changes. End each line of dialogue with a period. The paragraph change indicates to the reader a change in speaker, as in the following extract from The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.

• “Sarah, it’s bad for you to talk like that.” “Oh? How am I supposed to talk?” “I mean if you let yourself get angry you’ll be . . . consumed. You’ll burn up. It’s not productive.” “Oh, productive! Well, goodness, no, let’s not waste time on anything unproductive.”

Multiple paragraphs, single speaker

In the rare case that speech by a single speaker runs into multiple paragraphs (a running quotation), place an opening quotation mark at the start of each paragraph but a closing quotation mark only at the end of the final paragraph. All previous paragraphs remain unclosed. This tells the reader that the speaker has not changed at paragraph change.

• As Dash writes: “ Paragraph 1. “ Paragraph 2. “ Paragraph 3. ”

You will probably need to do this only when quoting a long speech, essay, or monologue. In normal dialogue, characters don’t speak entire paragraphs’ worth of words in one go.

Thoughts and internal dialogue

A character’s thoughts are often enclosed in quotation marks.

• “Why not?” he thought. “I can always change my mind later.”
• “She seems kind,” mused Maya. “I’m glad he met her.”

Quotation marks may be omitted with interior monologue. This can make it seem as though you are in a person’s head, listening in on their thoughts.

• It is, thought Peter Walsh, beginning to keep step with them, a very fine training. ( Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf)
• Mrs. Rachel felt that she had received a severe mental jolt. She thought in exclamation points. A boy! Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of all people adopting a boy! From an orphan asylum! Well, the world was certainly turning upside down! ( Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery)

When quotation marks are omitted and a thought appears mid-sentence, the first word is often capitalized to set off the thought from the rest of the sentence.

• Then suddenly I thought: Why, what would life be without my puppy! ( A Dog’s Tale by Mark Twain)
• So I thought, Why waste five hours trying to versify the incident? ( Something Else Again by Franklin P. Adams)

But it is not essential to capitalize the first word of a thought if it is clearly being directly quoted, as in the following sentence from Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea .

• I suddenly thought, if he is no longer in the army, why does he have to come and see me at a holiday weekend when the roads are full of traffic?

A writer may also use formatting options, such as italics, as Terry Pratchett does in Going Postal , where the main character, Moist (yes, that’s his name), is in conversation with another character. Moist’s spoken words are enclosed in quotes and his thoughts shown in italics.

• Hold on a minute , Moist thought, this is only one city. It’s got gates. It’s completely surrounded by different directions to run. Does it matter what I sign?

Indirect or reported speech

Don’t use quotation marks if you are reporting a conversation or dialogue instead of quoting the speaker’s exact words.

• Direct (quoted) speech Poco started washing the apples. “Why didn’t you call me last night?” “I had a migraine,” Lulu said. but Indirect (reported) speech As he started washing the apples, Poco asked Lulu why she hadn’t called him the night before. She said it was because she’d had a migraine.

Dashes instead of quotes to mark dialogue

Dashes may be used instead of quotation marks to punctuate dialogue, as in this excerpt from A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.

• — Will we go for a stroll, so? he said. — Yes, she said. — Right. He wiped the blade of the shovel on his sleeve. — Let’s get this gleaming for the lady. He let the spade hop gently on the path. Melody heard music. — Now we’re right, said Henry Smart. He held out his arm, offered it to Melody. — Hang on, said Melody.

Dashes can make dialogue seem more immediate, as though you’re watching two people talking. However, dashes are less common than quotation marks, which are more popular as speech marks for a reason: they indicate clearly where quoted speech begins and ends.

Omitting speech marks from dialogue

Some writers prefer to omit punctuation altogether, using neither quotation marks nor dashes. Cynan Jones’s The Dig omits speech marks to create an effect that is more immediate, more direct, more urgent.

• We’ve had a report of fly-tipping. He waited. I just wanted to ask whether you would know anything about that. What did they tip? asked the man. The policeman didn’t respond. He was looking at the junk and the big man saw and said, Does it look like I throw things away? Just wondered if you could help, sir, said the policeman.

Before opting for this minimalist style, ask yourself if your short story or novel requires it. Speech marks clearly outline quoted speech in a passage. By omitting them, you are making the reader pay extra attention to understand which words are quoted speech and which are narration. If you do use this method, review your writing carefully to make sure you don’t confuse (and irritate or tire out) the reader.

Share this article

Use a comma instead of a period at the end of a quote to separate it from the speaker.

Don’t use a comma after an exclamation point, even at the end of quoted text.

Don’t use a comma after a question mark.

Use a comma after a speech tag before the start of quoted speech.

Internal discourse can be punctuated with or without speech marks. A thought can begin either with a capital or a lowercase letter.

Both quotation marks and dashes can mark dialogue in fiction. Quotation marks are more common.

• How-To Guides

How To Write Dialogue In A Story (With Examples)

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

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

Internal vs External Dialogue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Write Dialogue in 5 Steps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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• Writing Tips

Punctuating and Formatting Dialogue in Fiction

4-minute read

• 8th February 2019

Dialogue – i.e., the words spoken by characters in a story – is a vital part of fiction . And to make sure your story is easy to read, you need to present the dialogue clearly. So to make sure your writing is perfect, check out our guide to punctuating and formatting dialogue in fiction.

1. Basic Punctuation and Dialogue Tags

The most important thing about dialogue in fiction is to use quote marks . These are sometimes even known as “speech marks,” as they indicate that someone has said something. All you need to do in this respect is place spoken dialogue within quote marks:

“ That is the biggest horse I have ever seen, ” said Craig.

In American English, as shown above, we use double quotes marks for dialogue. You may also have noticed some words outside the quote marks here. This is a dialogue tag . You can use dialogue tags to show who is speaking in a passage of dialogue (in this case, someone called “Craig”).

2. Quotes within Dialogue

If a character in your story is quoting someone else in their speech, use single quotation marks to enclose the quote within the main speech marks. Take the following line of dialogue, for example:

“He called me an ‘ arrogant fool ’ when I said I’d seen bigger horses.”

Here, we have single quote marks around the words “arrogant fool.” This shows us that the speaker is quoting someone while they are speaking.

3. New Speaker, New Paragraph

A good guideline when formatting dialogue is “new speaker, new paragraph.” This means that when someone new starts speaking, you set the dialogue on a new line. For instance:

Craig stared at the massive horse. “So huge,” he muttered to himself. “What are you doing?” asked Shannon, emerging from the farmhouse. “I’m watching this massive horse,” Craig said. “I can see that,” Shannon said. “But you’ve been here for six hours, Craig.”

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In the passage above, we have dialogue from two characters. As such, we use line breaks to help the reader keep track of who is speaking, beginning a new line each time the speaker changes.

4. Formatting Long Speeches

One passage of dialogue may require multiple paragraphs. For instance, a character may be telling another character a story within a story as part of your narrative, which could involve them speaking at length. And when this happens, it may not be obvious how to punctuate the dialogue.

The answer here is to use a quotation mark at the start of each paragraph when formatting dialogue. However, you will only use a closing quotation mark when the character finally finishes speaking:

Craig sighed. “I’ve always been obsessed with horses,” he explained. “When I was a child, I spent weekends on my grandparents’ farm. But all they had were miniature ponies. And they told me that all horses were the same size. They said the ones I saw on television looked bigger because they hired tiny actors to ride them. And I believed it.

“Or, I did until I was eighteen, anyway. That’s when I met Clayton Moore, the guy who played the Lone Ranger on TV. And he was over six feet tall, so I knew that Silver couldn’t have been as small as the ponies on my grandparents’ farm! It had all been a lie! I felt so betrayed. And ever since then, I have been looking for the biggest horse I can find.”

In the passage above, for instance, we do not use a closing quotation mark at the end of the first paragraph because it is only half way through Craig’s dialogue. At the end of the second paragraph, however, we use a speech mark to show that Craig has finished speaking.

5. Ellipses and Dashes

Finally, you can use ellipses and dashes to indicate interruptions in dialogue. And while there are no strict rules about how this works, we suggest the following guidelines:

• Use ellipses to show that speech has trailed off (e.g., “I don’t know why you have a problem with…” Craig said, before falling into silence ).
• Use an en dash or em dash to indicate speech that ends suddenly (e.g., “You need to take th–” Shannon began, before the horse neighed loudly ).

This will help your reader tell the difference between dialogue that trails off and dialogue that is suddenly interrupted.

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Mixing indirect and direct speech in fiction

I often find myself wanting to include bits of dialogue in narratives where I am summarizing a detailed conversation.

For example, I am inclined to write silly things like this:

Bill and Ted talked long into the night, discussing as many topics as there were things under the sun, as they spoke "of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — of cabbages — and kings — and why the sea is boiling hot — and whether pigs have wings."

In the context of the story, it would be clear who said the quoted phrase -- it was Ted Kaczynski -- so I think there is no need for an attribution tag. I think it is important that the indirect dialogue and the direct dialogue be as tightly grouped to maximize the moment. My intent with using the quoted text is to produce something like how we actually remember conversations -- lots of general recollects with a few specific quotes.

I get grief over this from writing groups I participate with.

So, is there a 'proper' way to format these kinds of mixtures of direct and indirect speech in a piece of fiction.

If I understand you correctly, what you want is to be able to mix indirect dialogue with direct dialogue in order to give an impression of the experience of recollecting conversations, where most of the recollection is of generalized things said, but there are a few direct quotes sprinkled in. You want to have that effect, but achieve that effect in such a way that it's not as off-putting to your readers as it currently is.

In the example you gave, I think the problem I would have with it is that it doesn't feel like natural, actual, literal dialogue. I can't imagine anyone talking that way unless they were singing a song. It feels to me like this is probably either a poetic summary of the conversation (in which case, the person summarizing is the narrator and nothing should be in quotes), or it's a song/poem, in which case representing it as a snippet of normal dialogue doesn't feel right.

I don't have much context for your story so I don't know. Maybe your character Ted is a poet or bard or someone who likes to recite songs or poetry or something like that is going on. In that case, I would say you just need to make it clear that that's what is happening. Call out that that's what is happening explicitly ("And Ted sang..." or whatever) and also format the snippet as verse.

There's at least two main ways to format things as verse. One is to give it its own paragraph. It stands alone, has whitespace before and after, and is indented. The second is, you can do inline, which means you typically put / between things. So if that's what you want I would replace your -- with /.

If, however, you're saying that no, this is supposed to be an actual quote of real dialogue during a real conversation, not Ted quoting or composing a song or poem, but real dialogue...hard truth, but: if you have several readers telling you that this doesn't sound like real dialogue, then: maybe you need to get better at writing realistic-sounding dialogue.

I think there might be yet a third option. Maybe what you want to do is to write the whole description paragraph not as normal prose description but instead write the whole thing as a song. That would be a unique move but who knows, maybe that would play to your unique strengths as a writer.

Hope this helps.

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My English Grammar

Ultimate English Grammar, Vocabulary, and Names Database

Direct Speech or Quoted Speech

Introduction to direct speech or quoted speech.

Direct Speech, also known as Quoted Speech, is a common grammatical construction used in both written and spoken language. This tutorial serves as a comprehensive guide to mastering this important literary device. Let's start by understanding what direct speech is.

Table of Contents

Understanding Direct Speech

Direct speech refers to the exact wording of someone's comments or speech as it was spoken. In written text, direct speech usually appears in quotation marks or inverted commas to denote that the words were spoken or written by another person. The actual text of direct speech punctuated with a speech tag, which identifies the speaker and might provide additional context.

• John said, "I love playing football."

In this example, "I love playing football," is the direct speech, and "John said," is the speech tag.

Formatting Direct Speech

Following are some standard rules regarding the formatting and punctuating of direct speech:

Rule 1: Opening and Closing Quotation Marks

Always use opening and closing quotation marks to indicate the start and end of the direct speech portion of the sentence. These could be double (“ ”) or single (‘ ’) quotation marks, depending on the convention of the media or publication.

• "I am going home," said Maria.

Rule 2: Speech Tag Placement

The location of the speech tag can change, depending on the context and the intended effect. It can either be placed before, in between, or after the direct speech.

• She said, "I am tired."
• "I am," he said, "very hungry."
• "Let's go to the park," suggested Tim.

Rule 3: Capitalization and Punctuation

In direct speech, every new spoken line starts with a capital letter. Also, when the speech tag is at the end of the sentence, the quoted sentence should end with a comma, question mark, or exclamation mark but not with a period.

• John said, "Please pass the salt."
• "Where are we going?" asked Mary.
• "What a beautiful view!" exclaimed Susan.

Understanding the Speech Tag

The speech tag typically has two parts: the noun (or noun phrase) that refers to the speaker and the reporting verb (e.g., "said", "asked", "whispered") that characterizes the mode of speech. It's also possible to add adverbial modifiers to describe the manner of speech.

• "I can't wait to play the game," Tom said excitedly.

Overriding Rules in Direct Speech

While the rules mentioned above can guide you in punctuating most direct speeches correctly, some exceptions or overriding rules can alter punctuation and capitalization. Here are some examples:

Rule 1: Interrupted Speech

If the speech tag interrupts the direct speech, both parts of the speech would begin with a lowercase letter, assuming they form a single sentence.

• "I can't," she whispered, "stand to see him upset."

Rule 2: Consecutive Sentences

When a character speaks consecutive sentences, start the second one with a capital letter.

• "Please leave," she said. "I need to be alone."

Concluding Remarks

Mastering direct speech or quoted speech can enhance your writing skills tremendously, helping you write compelling dialogue and effectively integrate quotes in your work. By following the guidelines set in this tutorial, you'll be well on your way to using direct speech like a pro. Happy writing!

Practice Exercises:

• Rewrite the following sentences with appropriate use of quoted speech:
• Sam said that he was too tired to study.
• Jane thought that it was a splendid idea.
• He didn't know where she was going.
• Use direct speech to write a conversation between two characters about their weekend plans.

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Say What You Mean: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Direct Speech

As an English learner, you’ve probably heard of “direct speech,” right? But what does it really mean, and how can you use it in your own writing and speaking? In this post, we’ll explore the definition and examples of direct speech, as well as the differences between direct and indirect speech.

What is Direct Speech? 

Direct speech, or quoted speech, is when you report someone’s exact words. It’s called “direct” because you’re repeating the words exactly as they were spoken, without changing them in any way. 

Direct speech can be used in various contexts, from everyday conversation to formal writing. Here are some examples:

Example 1: Everyday conversation Direct speech: “Hey, how are you doing?” asked John. In this example, John’s exact words are being reported using direct speech.

Example 2: News article Direct speech: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved friend and colleague,” said the company’s CEO in a statement. In this example, the exact words spoken by the CEO are being reported using direct speech.

Example 3: Fictional writing Direct speech:John says, “I can’t believe we’re stuck here. What are we going to do?” In this example, John is speaking directly, and his words are placed in quotation marks. It’s pretty simple, right? It adds a layer of realism to the story, making the dialogue more engaging and believable. 

Differences Between Direct Speech and Indirect Speech 

While direct speech reports someone’s exact words, indirect speech (also known as reported speech) reports the meaning of someone’s words without using their exact words. 

Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “I’ll be home late,” said John. Indirect speech: John said he would be home late. In indirect speech, the words are changed slightly to fit into the context of the sentence. Notice that in the indirect speech example, we use “he” instead of “John” and change the tense of the verb.

So, that’s it for our discussion on direct speech! I hope you’ve learned something new and found it helpful in improving your English skills. Remember, direct speech is a useful tool in writing. So go ahead, give it a try in your own writing, and see the difference it can make!

• Engaging: interesting and enjoyable
• Stuck: unable to move or proceed
• Quotation: a group of words taken from a text or speech and repeated by someone else

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Literary English

Direct and Indirect Speech in English | A Complete Guide

Direct and indirect speech are two ways to report what someone else has said. In direct speech, the exact words spoken by a person are quoted within quotation marks. In indirect speech, the words of the speaker are reported without using their exact words and without using quotation marks. Instead, the reported speech is often introduced by verbs such as “said,” “told,” “asked,” etc. Indirect speech allows us to convey what someone else said without necessarily repeating their exact words, often to provide a summary or to integrate it into a larger narrative.

Direct Speech

Direct speech is also called reporting speech. There are two parts in a sentence in direct speech first part is known as reporting speech (in this sentence we know about reporting person) and the second part which is known as reported speech (indirect narration “example”, or indirect discourse). When we want to describe what someone said, one option is to use  direct speech . We use direct speech when we simply repeat what someone says, putting the phrase between speech marks:

• Saif came in and said, “I’m really happy”.

As you can see, with direct speech it is common to use the verb ‘to say’ and ‘to says’ (‘said’ in the past). But you can also find other verbs used to indicate direct speech such as ‘ask’, ‘reply’, and ‘shout’.

Indirect Speech

In grammar, when we want to report what someone said, without speech marks and without necessarily using exactly the same words, we use indirect speech. It is also known as reported speech. Look at the following sentences:

• Direct speech:  he says, “I am going to school.”
• Indirect speech:  he says that he is going to school.

In above sentences, the reporter delivers the message of the boy using his real words (e.g.“I am going to school.”) In the indirect speech sentence, the reporter delivers his message but in his own words without any change in the meaning. Thus, both direct and indirect speeches are two different ways of reporting a statement of person. In simple words, quoting a person using your own words is called an indirect speech.

Basic Rules for Direct and Indirect Speeches

• When we change direct speech to indirect speech always we will replace inverted commas with word ‘ that’ .
• When we combine reporting and reported speech we use  that  between these sentences.
• If the first part of the sentence does not include word  said  then tense will not be changed.
• At the end of reporting speech if there is a comma then it will be removed.
• Say  always will be changed into  tell .
• Says  always will be changed into  tells .
• Said  will be changed into  told  only in one condition when there is object in reporting speech.
• Direct : You said to Saif, “you are going to Lahore”.
• Indirect : you told Saif that he was going to Lahore. 

Changes in the Person of Pronouns

1 st  person                             2 nd  person                             3 rd  person

Subject                                  Object                                    No change

I, we,                                       you                                         he, she, it,

My, our, us, me                     your                                        they and noun.

• 1 st person pronouns in reported speech are always changed according to the subject of the reporting speech.
• 2 nd person pronouns in reported speech are always changed according to the object of the reporting speech.
• 3 rd person pronouns in reported speech are not changed.

Important word changes

The above rules are mandatory for converting direct speech into indirect speech. Hence, they should be memorized thoroughly. The following examples cover all the aforementioned rules. So, focus on every sentence to know how the above-mentioned rules have been used here.

Some special words will be changed when direct speech changes into indirect speech

• Now into then
• Today into that day
• Yesterday into the previous day
• This into that
• Last night into the previous night
• Tomorrow into the next day
• These into those
• Here into there
• Next day into the following day
• Ago into before
• Come into go
• Will into would
• Shall into should
• May into might
• Can into could
• Good Morning, into greeted
• Good Evening, into greeted
• Good Day into greeted
• Madam into Respectfully
• Sir into Respectfully

Changes in Verbs

If the reporting speech is in present tense or future tense, then no change is required to be made in the verb of reported speech.

Direct Speech:  he says, “I live in Pakistan”.

Indirect Speech:  he tells that he lives in Pakistan.

Direct Speech:  you say to me, “you will go to Lahore”.

Indirect Speech:  you tell me that I shall go to Lahore.

Direct Speech:  I say, “she was ill”.

Indirect Speech:  I tell that she was ill.

How to Make Direct and Indirect Speeches in Different Tenses

Present indefinite  will be changed into past into  past indefinite  tense.

(First form  into  second form)

• Direct:  I said, “I go to school”.
• Indirect:  I said that I went to school.

Present continues  will be changed into  past continues  tense.

(is, am, are  into  was, were)

• Direct:  Raza said, “I am a boy”.
• Indirect : Raza said that he was a boy.

Present perfect  will be changed into  past perfect  tense.

(has, had  into  had)

• Indirect : You told Saif that he was going to Lahore. 

Present perfect continues  will be changed into  past perfect continues  tense.

(has been, have been  into  had been)

• Direct : The guard said to the passenger, “the train has come”
• Indirect : The guard told to the passenger that the train had come.

Past indefinite will be changed into  past perfect  tense.

(second form  into  had)

• Direct : Aslam said, “They played cricket”.
• Indirect:  Aslam said that they had played cricket.

Past continues  will be changed into  past perfect continues  tense.

(was, were  into  had been)

• Direct : The policeman said, “The thief has been stealing for two year”.
• Indirect : The policeman told that the thief had been stealing for two year.

Note :  Past perfect, past perfect continues, future indefinite, future continues, future perfect, future perfect continues tense will not be changed.

Direct and Indirect Speech in Assertive Sentences

Sentences that make a declaration are called assertive sentences. These sentences may be positive, negative, false, or true statements. To convert such sentences into indirect speech, use the rules as declared above except  said  is sometimes replaced with  told . Look at the following examples:

Direct Speech:  She says, “I am writing a letter to my brother.”

Indirect Speech:  She says that she is writing a letter to her brother.

Direct Speech:  She says, “I was not writing a letter to my brother.”

Indirect Speech:  She says that she was not writing a letter to her brother.

Direct Speech:  She said to me, “I am writing a letter to my brother.”

Indirect Speech:  She told me that she was writing a letter to her brother.

Direct and Indirect Speech in Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentences are sentences that give an order or a direct command. These sentences may be in the form of advice, appeal, request, or order. Mostly, it depends upon the forcefulness of the presenter. Thus, a full stop (.) or sign of exclamation (!) is used at the end of the sentence.

When we will be convert these types of sentences into indirect speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

• Both sentences will be joined with the conjunction
• If in the reported sentence has word do not,  then it will be changed with the word  not to.
• Direct speech : Aslam said, “Do not beat him”.
• Indirect speech: Aslam ordered to not beat him.

The direct verb is changed according to indirect speech in case order the speaker gives a direct command. Then said  will be changed into  ordered  For example:

• Direct Speech:  The father said to me, “Sit down.”
• Indirect Speech:  The father ordered me to sit down.

The direct verb is changed according to indirect speech in case request the speaker gives a request command. Then said  will be changed into  request.

For example:

• Direct Speech:  The man said, “Please show me your pen.”
• Indirect Speech:  the man requested to show him my door.

The direct verb is changed according to indirect speech in case guide the speaker gives a piece of advice. Then said  will be changed into  advised .

• Direct Speech:  The headmaster said, “Write neat and clean.”
• Indirect Speech:  the headmaster advised to write neat and clean.

The direct verb is changed according to indirect speech in case forbade the speaker stopped to do something. Then said  will be changed into  forbade .

• Direct Speech:  The teacher said, “Don’t sit.”
• Indirect Speech:  The teacher forbade to sit.

Optative & Exclamatory Sentences

The sentence, which expresses a prayer, keen wish, curse, happiness etc., is called an  optative sentence . This kind of sentence generally starts with ‘may’ and ‘wish’. Sometimes, ‘may’ remains hidden.

The sentence, which expresses a sudden and deep excitement, wonder, shock, or sorrow, etc., is called an  exclamatory sentence . In this kind of sentence must have exclamation mark (!) at the end of the sentence or in the central of the sentence.

• May you succeed in the test!
• May you get well soon!
•   Would that I was rich!

When we will be converted these types of sentences into indirect speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

In a prayer  sentence  said  will be replaced by

When we will be changed direct speech to indirect speech always we will be replaced inverted commas  that .

• Direct speech : He said, “May you live long”.
• Indirect speech : He prayed that I might live long.

In a  hope  sentence  said  will be replaced by

When we will be changed direct speech to indirect speech always we will be replaced inverted commas that .

• Direct speech:  The father said, “May my son get first position”.
• Indirect speech:  The father wished that his son might get first position.

In a glad & happy sentence, said  will be replaced by  exclaimed with joy  or  exclaimed with joyfully.  And exclamatory  mark  (!) will be removed.

• Direct speech:  The boys said, “Hurrah! We have won the match”.
• Indirect speech:  The boys exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

In a sad or sorrow sentence, said  will be replaced by  exclaimed with sorrow  or  exclaimed with sorrowfully.

• Direct speech:  The bagger said, “Ah! I am undone”.
• Indirect speech:  The exclaimed with sorrow that he was undone.

Interrogative Sentences

Which sentences, ask questions, are called interrogative sentences. Every interrogative sentence has question mark (?) at the ends.

• Where are you going?
•   Where did you live?
• Are you want to go with me?

To change interrogative sentences from direct speech into indirect speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

  When we will be changed sentence direct speech to indirect  Said  will be replaced by  asked .

If interrogative sentence will be started from “ Wh ” mean when, whom, what, where, who, which, why, how, whose when we will be changed sentence direct speech to indirect speech  inverted commas  will not be replaced. Just it will be removed.

If the reported sentence will be started form helping verb, then  if will be used in place of  that .

After the changing sentence mark of interrogation (?) will be replaced with full stop (.).

Direct speech:  He said to me, “Who are you”?

Indirect speech:  He asked me who I was.

Direct speech:  He said to me, “Where are you going”?

Indirect speech:  He asked me where I was going.

Direct speech:  Sunny said to me, “will you help me”?

Indirect speech:  Sunny asked me if I would help him.

Direct and indirect Speech in Universal Sentence

Sentences which have natural truth or universal truth in the part of reported speech are called universal sentences .

• Allah is one.
• Honesty is the best policy.

To change universal sentences from direct speech into indirect speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

When we will be changed sentence direct speech to indirect  Said  will be replaced by

When we will be changed direct speech to indirect speech always we will be replaced inverted commas with  that .

Always remember that universal truth will never change so we will not be changed reported speech portion.

Direct speech:  The teacher said to the boys, “The earth revolves around the sun”.

Indirect speech:  The teacher told the boys that the earth revolves around the sun.

Direct speech:  Saif said, “Allah is one”.

Indirect speech:  Saif told that Allah is one.

Direct speech:  She said to him, “Honesty is the best policy”.

Indirect speech:  She told him that honesty is the best policy.

Direct speech:  Sunny said to Farrukh, “The sun rises in the east”.

Indirect speech:  Sunny told Farrukh that the sun rises in the east.

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Free indirect discourse is a narrative technique in which writers employ the third person POV with the intimacy of 1st person perspective. While this technique became popularized in the 20th century, it has been used for generations of storytellers, as writers have experimented with exploring their characters’ interiorities.

Also known as free indirect speech or free indirect style, this narrative technique is essential for writers who want to excavate their characters’ innermost thoughts, even if those characters are written in the third person. This article dives deep into the topic, with free indirect discourse examples from literature and an exploration of its effects on the reader.

But first, let’s better define this useful storytelling technique. What is free indirect discourse?

What is Free Indirect Discourse: Contents

Free Indirect Speech vs Direct or Indirect Speech

Free indirect discourse vs. stream of consciousness, free indirect discourse examples, free indirect discourse effect, what is free indirect discourse.

Free indirect discourse is a narrative technique that only applies to the third person point-of-view . It is when the narrator writes from the third person perspective with the intimacy of the first person, providing the reader with that character’s interior thoughts, feelings, and conflicts , even though the story is not narrated by that character.

To put it another way, free indirect discourse is 3rd person writing from a 1st person perspective.

Free indirect discourse is 3rd person writing with the intimacy of 1st person narration.

This narrative technique is also known as free indirect speech or free indirect style.

This is easier identified than discussed in the abstract. Here’s an excerpt from “ The Dead ” by James Joyce, who often employed free indirect discourse in his work:

He waited outside the drawing-room door until the waltz should finish, listening to the skirts that swept against it and to the shuffling of feet. He was still discomposed by the girl’s bitter and sudden retort. It had cast a gloom over him which he tried to dispel by arranging his cuffs and the bows of his tie. He then took from his waistcoat pocket a little paper and glanced at the headings he had made for his speech. He was undecided about the lines from Robert Browning for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers. Some quotation that they would recognise from Shakespeare or from the Melodies would be better. The indelicate clacking of the men’s heels and the shuffling of their soles reminded him that their grade of culture differed from his. He would only make himself ridiculous by quoting poetry to them which they could not understand. They would think that he was airing his superior education. He would fail with them just as he had failed with the girl in the pantry. He had taken up a wrong tone. His whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure.

In bold are instances where the reader is given access to Gabriel’s (the character’s) 1st person perspective. The writing is still in the 3rd person, but our access to Gabriel is more intimate. We can see his feelings, opinions, and reactions happening in real time as he reacts to the party around him and the speech he’s soon to give.

Free indirect discourse (or speech, or style…) is also easier to identify against other forms of narrative description. When we’re talking about narrative that explores a character’s point of view, a fiction writer’s prose can be characterized as either direct, indirect, or free indirect speech.

• Direct speech: this is speech coming directly from the narrator’s voice. It is either first person narrative, or else dialogue from the character.
• Indirect speech: this is writing that refers to something a character said or thought, but not in quotation. We are still in the realm of words as used by the characters themselves.
• Free indirect speech: What we’ve discussed above—third person narrative with the intimacy of the first person POV.

Here’s a made up example:

• Direct speech: “I would go to Trader Joe’s with you, except I keep running into my exes there,” she said.
• Indirect speech: She remembered running into her exes the last three times she went to Trader Joe’s, and wondered aloud whether it was worth risking a fourth time.
• Free indirect speech: She remembered running into her exes the last three times she went to Trader Joe’s. Why risk, for a fourth time, revisiting the hurt and embarrassment that made her end yet another relationship?

Here, you can see more clearly how free indirect discourse is a specific style of intimate narration. The character’s interiority is integrated into the story’s narrative flow.

Free indirect discourse makes thoughts and feelings more intimately felt in the reader’s own mind and body.

This can have the effect of making thoughts and feelings more intimately felt in the reader’s own mind and body. Rather than making those thoughts and feelings stand out as overtly transcribed from the character’s voice (using quotation marks or dialogue tags), they are experienced suddenly and seamlessly as part of the narrative.

Free indirect discourse sometimes gets mistaken for stream of consciousness. The two share similarities, and 20th century writers in particular often employ both techniques in the same stories.

Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique in which the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and perceptions of a character get transcribed for the reader as they actually occur . It is experience unfurling in real time.

This type of writing is notoriously dense and difficult to understand, because it is the human mind unfiltered and untranslated. Our own thoughts are replete with interruptions, distractions, rabbit holes, etc. We think by association, so random stimuli will prompt random memories, and we tend to think in a language of our own, with fragments of thought that only we will understand. Stream of consciousness seeks to transcribe all of this .

Free indirect style does offer us access to a character’s interior, but that transcription of the character’s thoughts and feelings have been edited and stylized.

Free indirect style does offer us access to a character’s interior, but that transcription of the character’s thoughts and feelings have been edited and stylized. In other words, they go through a filter: we don’t have to wade through the mind’s many interruptions in order to grasp the character’s core experiences.

Free indirect speech has been utilized for centuries, but its popularity as a narrative technique rose dramatically in the 20th century. The following free indirect discourse examples all come from authors who wielded this device to great effect.

Excerpt from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Retrieved from Gutenberg .

Elinor’s happiness was not so great. Her heart was not so much at ease, nor her satisfaction in their amusements so pure. They afforded her no companion that could make amends for what she had left behind, nor that could teach her to think of Norland with less regret than ever. Neither Lady Middleton nor Mrs. Jennings could supply to her the conversation she missed; although the latter was an everlasting talker, and from the first had regarded her with a kindness which ensured her a large share of her discourse . She had already repeated her own history to Elinor three or four times; and had Elinor’s memory been equal to her means of improvement, she might have known very early in their acquaintance all the particulars of Mr. Jennings’s last illness, and what he said to his wife a few minutes before he died. Lady Middleton was more agreeable than her mother only in being more silent. Elinor needed little observation to perceive that her reserve was a mere calmness of manner with which sense had nothing to do. Towards her husband and mother she was the same as to them; and intimacy was therefore neither to be looked for nor desired . She had nothing to say one day that she had not said the day before. Her insipidity was invariable, for even her spirits were always the same ; and though she did not oppose the parties arranged by her husband, provided every thing were conducted in style and her two eldest children attended her, she never appeared to receive more enjoyment from them than she might have experienced in sitting at home ;—and so little did her presence add to the pleasure of the others, by any share in their conversation, that they were sometimes only reminded of her being amongst them by her solicitude about her troublesome boys.

A 19th century author and frequent practitioner of free indirect discourse, Jane Austen’s writing helped popularize this narrative technique. In this excerpt, Elinor laments her loneliness in her new living situation and the new women she’s surrounded by. The bolded lines are instances where Elinor’s thoughts and feelings are integrated into the narration.

One easy way to identify free indirect discourse is to look for “feeling” words, particularly when they haven’t been “called out” as such. It isn’t the narrator’s belief that Mrs. Jennings is an everlasting talker—that word choice suggests we are seeing how Elinor feels about her.

Excerpt from The Metamorphosis by Kafka

And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers. “God in Heaven!” he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o’clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still not packed, and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss’s anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five o’clock train go, he would have put in his report about Gregor’s not being there a long time ago. The office assistant was the boss’s man, spineless, and with no understanding. What about if he reported sick? But that would be extremely strained and suspicious as in five years of service Gregor had never once yet been ill. His boss would certainly come round with the doctor from the medical insurance company, accuse his parents of having a lazy son, and accept the doctor’s recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what’s more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Gregor did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual.

Kafka’s masterful use of free indirect course helps the reader inhabit Gregor Samsa’s mind and body, freshly transformed into that of a cockroach. We get to participate in Samsa’s alienation from the world, living inside the surrealness of The Metamorphosis .

This paragraph, from the novel’s opening, exhibits the different functions of free indirect style. Samsa thinks, feels, considers hypotheticals; his mind roams and we roam with it, feeling within our own bodies the anxiety and strangeness that Samsa must have felt after being trapped inside the body of an insect.

Excerpt from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Retrieved here.

There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Janie had had no chance to know things, so she had to ask. Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated? Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?

In the few days to live before she went to Logan Killicks and his often-mentioned sixty acres, Janie asked inside of herself and out. She was back and forth to the pear tree continuously wondering and thinking. Finally out of Nanny’s talk and her own conjectures she made a sort of comfort for herself. Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so. Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. It was just so. Janie felt glad of the thought, for then it wouldn’t seem so destructive and mouldy. She wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

The theme of questions introduced here makes Hurston’s use of free indirect discourse that much more powerful. We know these are the questions Janie is asking herself, yet we read them as though they’re planted in our own minds, and the careful reader might stop and consider them before moving on in the story. Hurston invites us to consider the very real dilemma Janie is going through—what it means to marry a man she doesn’t love—and feel that dilemma as though it were our own lived experience.

Excerpt from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

For he was not going to talk the sort of rot these people wanted him to talk. He was not going to be condescended to by these silly women. He had been reading in his room, and now he came down and it all seemed to him silly, superficial, flimsy. Why did they dress? He had come down in his ordinary clothes. He had not got any dress clothes. ‘One never gets anything worth having by post’—that was the sort of thing they were always saying. They made men say that sort of thing. Yes, it was pretty well true, he thought. They never got anything worth having from one year’s end to another. They did nothing but talk, talk, talk, eat, eat, eat. It was the women’s fault. Women made civilization impossible with all their ‘charm,’ all their silliness.

Charles Tansley seems like such a charming fellow, no? Mind-numbing sexism aside, this passage reveals Tansley’s biases seamlessly, as the use of free indirect speech embeds his feelings into the prose. Now, most readers (hopefully) won’t read and agree with Tansley; Woolf wasn’t trying to unconsciously make her readers misogynists. Rather, the use of this device magnifies the absurdity of Tansley’s thoughts: we read them as though they were natural thoughts, recognize that they’re not, and react against them much more strongly.

Other Free Indirect Discourse Examples

You can find other noteworthy free indirect discourse examples in the following works of fiction:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence

Why write with free indirect discourse? Writers, theorists, and philologists have analyzed the use of this literary technique for the ways it subtly influences the reader’s experience of the text. The budding prose stylist may consider employing free indirect speech for the following reasons:

• To create intimacy with characters. Free indirect style offers an intimate window into a character’s thoughts and feelings.
• To create embodied experiences. When a character’s thoughts and feelings are embedded in the narrative, we read them as though they were our own experiences.
• To blur the line between narrator and character. Some storytellers have used this technique to bolster the unreliability of their narrators. Who’s speaking or believing this? How does that question alter the reader’s understanding of the text?
• To highlight the character’s ways of thinking. The effective prose stylist will change their word choice when slipping into the voice of the character. This juxtaposition can underscore how that character thinks and speaks and uses words.
• To get the best of both 1st and 3rd person narration. Why not just write in the first person point of view? The 1st person is limited to the protagonist’s viewpoint, which can be limiting and inflexible for the author. Free indirect discourse gives writers the freedom of the 3rd person POV with the power of 1st person POV.

Practice Free Indirect Discourse at Writers.com

Want to try your hand at this literary technique? The classes at Writers.com can give you feedback on what’s working in your stories. Check out our upcoming fiction writing classes , or take a look at our expert fiction writing coaches .

Sean Glatch

I really enjoyed this article. Quite candidly, I’d not thought of the differences in free indirect, stream of consciousness, free direct, etc. Third person was third person, and that was that. To my embarassment, I see now things are not so simple here. As Mary gulped down the grape slurpee, she wondered if anyone she knew was learning her secret –that she’d rather be her usual sloppy and ravenous country bumpkin in Holley dungarees than sit stiffly in a ruffled pinafore with Mrs. Wednesday and Beth Saturday and sip that slurpee with a silver spoon in her mouth for an hour.

I’m glad you enjoyed this! And that’s nothing to be embarrassed about—I didn’t learn about F.I.D. until my final year of undergrad, and it’s definitely a term that gets thrown around primarily in MFA programs. I hope the techniques here will be useful for your fiction writing!

During covid I did a lot of writing, short stories and part of a novel. Sent a story in was rejected and couldn’t figure out what needed changing. Then life opened up and all that writing has sat untouched even though I think often of it with the revisions I could make. This article has given me back the urge to get going again. Thank you.

I’m so glad this article has inspired you, Vicki. Happy writing!

Wonderful article!!

For certain situations, writing dialogues does seem bothersome and therefore kills the desire to write. This opens up an entirely different perspective that I wasnt aware of (cosnciously at least).

Thank you ☺️

I’m happy this helps you, Sanjeev!

I’m writing a series and felt this diversion to explain past events. Your article helps to understand my principles of back story. Thanks.

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Riccardo Dalisi

Writing For Students

Why and When To Use Direct Speech

There are occasions when it is best to use direct speech , and others when indirect speech is more appropriate. Here are some guidelines:

1. Use direct speech to create a strong impression. When you want to make a point in a powerful way, quoting someone directly can be the most effective way to do it. For example, imagine you’re giving a persuasive speech about the need for gun control. You could quote statistics about gun deaths in the United States, but this would likely be less effective than quoting someone who has been affected by gun violence. A powerful quotation from a victim’s family member or friend can have a much greater impact on your audience.

2. Use direct speech for emphasis. If there’s something you want your reader to pay attention to, quoting it directly can help. For example, imagine you’re writing an essay about the importance of staying in school. You could say “It’s important to stay in school,” but this would be less effective than quoting someone who has benefited from continuing their education. A quote from a successful graduate can underscore the importance of getting an education.

3. Use direct speech when you want to sound authoritative. If you’re trying to convince your reader of something, using direct quotations from experts can give your argument more weight. For example, if you’re writing an essay arguing that climate change is real, you could include quotes from scientists who have studied the issue. This will help your reader trust your argument more.

4. Use direct speech to create a personal connection with your reader. Quotations can help your reader feel like they’re getting to know you better. For example, if you’re writing about your own experiences with a mental health disorder, you could include quotations from people who have shared their experiences with mental illness. This will help your reader feel like they’re connecting with you on a personal level.

5. Use indirect speech when you want to provide more context. If you want to give your readers all the information they need before making up their own minds, using indirect speech is the best way to do it. For example, if you’re writing an essay arguing for or against gun control, you could start by providing statistics about gun deaths in the United States. This will give your readers a better understanding of the issue before you present your argument.

6. Use indirect speech when you want to avoid offending your reader. Sometimes it’s best to avoid using direct quotations, especially if they could be seen as offensive. For example, if you’re writing about a sensitive topic like rape, you might want to use indirect speech instead of quoting directly from survivors’ stories. This will help ensure that your readers don’t feel uncomfortable or offended by what you’ve written.

7. Use indirect speech when you want to sound more objective. If you’re trying to provide an impartial overview of a topic, using indirect speech is the best way to do it. For example, if you’re writing an essay about the Syrian Civil War, you could start by providing a brief summary of the conflict. This will give your readers a better understanding of the issue before you present your argument.

8. Use indirect speech when you want to avoid sounding biased. Sometimes it’s best to avoid using direct quotations, especially if they could be seen as biased. For example, if you’re writing an essay about gun control and you only use quotes from people who support gun control, your essay might seem biased. Using indirect speech instead will help ensure that your readers don’t think you’re trying to push an agenda.

9. Use indirect speech when you want to sound more professional. If you’re trying to sound like a credible source, using indirect speech is the best way to do it. For example, if you’re writing an essay about the history of the United States, you could start by providing a brief overview of the country’s history. This will give your readers a better understanding of the issue before you present your argument.

10. Use indirect speech when you want to provide more information. If you want to give your readers all the information they need before making up their own minds, using indirect speech is the best way to do it. For example, if you’re writing an essay about gun control, you could start by providing statistics about gun deaths in the United States. This will give your readers a better understanding of the issue before you present your argument.

In conclusion, there are many times when it’s best to use indirect speech instead of direct quotations. Using quotations can help your reader feel like they’re getting to know you better, but it’s important to use them wisely. If you’re trying to provide an impartial overview of a topic, sound more professional, or provide more information, then using indirect speech is the best way to do it.

Thank you for reading! I hope this article was helpful. 🙂

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English lessons and resources

Direct speech writing rules in English

7th January 2019 by Andrew

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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What is Direct Speech? - Learn the Meaning, Definition, Rules and Usage with Examples

In English grammar , the term ‘speech’ refers to the process of communicating or expressing one’s thoughts. It is an exchange of ideas or even a conversation. There are two ways in which you can report speech – direct speech and indirect speech . Direct speech is used to report or rather repeat the words spoken by the speaker or writer in the way it is told by the speaker, whereas indirect speech is the way in which you convey what someone said to another person, not necessarily using the exact words of the speaker.

In this article, you will learn the meaning and definition of direct speech. Also, go through the rules to be followed when using the direct speech and the examples given to understand how to use them accurately.

Table of Contents

Definition of direct speech.

• Rules to Be Followed When Using Direct Speech

Tips to Practise Direct Speech

Examples of direct speech, test your understanding of direct speech, frequently asked questions on direct speech in english, what is direct speech.

Direct speech is a word-to-word repetition of what the speaker or writer has conveyed. In other words, it is a way in which you can report the exact words of the speaker. Direct speech can be used to convey something that is being said in the present or to tell someone about something that is to happen at a later point of time. Let us now take a look at how various dictionaries define direct speech to further understand what it is.

According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, direct speech is defined as “a speaker’s actual words.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “when you use direct speech, you repeat what someone has said using exactly the words they used.” The Collins Dictionary defines direct speech as “speech which is reported by using the exact words that the speaker used” and according to the Macmillan Dictionary, direct speech is defined as “the exact words that someone has said.”

Rules to be Followed When Using Direct Speech

Like every other grammar topic, there are rules to be followed when using direct speech. Let us look at each one of them to know how direct speech can be used accurately and effectively.

• The first point that you have to remember is that direct speech is the repetition of the exact words of the speaker and so you do not have a choice to add or remove words to and from what is said.
• For the same reason, these words spoken by the speaker have to be enclosed within quotation marks or speech marks.
• When using direct speech, you can follow the formula given below.

• You can also use words like replied, asked, screamed, etc. to state what the speaker said according to the emotion in which it is being spoken.
• Immediately after one of the above-mentioned verbs , add a comma followed by open quotation marks, the words of the speaker (capitalise the first letter of the first word) followed by a period, question mark or exclamation mark and the close quotation marks.
• Also, make sure you close the quotation marks after the punctuation mark (full stop/question mark/exclamation mark).
• Finally, keep in mind that you cannot change the words, or paraphrase what has been said by the speaker when you are using direct speech.

You can become an expert in using direct speech if you practise well. Here are some ways you can do it.

• Try reading short stories and converting it into a dialogue. Change the lines of every character into direct speech.
• Write a story on your own. Use direct speech to convey all the dialogues.
• Narrate or write about an incident or a day in your life using direct speech.

Now that you know the rules to be followed, take a look at the following examples to have a better idea of how it is done.

• Devi said, “I am teaching French for first year and second year college students.”
• Freeda asked her brother, “Can you pick me up on your way home?”
• “My friends are finally coming home this weekend”, said Sheena.
• The students replied, “We are ready!”
• Gayatri siad, “My father has been working as a doctor for ten years. “
• “What are you going to do with the broken mirror?”, asked Mridula.
• Carol said, “I have planned to wear a grey dress for the prom.”
• The teacher says, “You have to make your submissions before 8 a.m. on Monday.”
• The little boy said excitedly, “That was wonderful!”
• Maduri said, sitting on the sofa, “I am really happy I finally took time to come see you.”

Rearrange the following sentences to form direct speech and punctuate them appropriately.

1. vishal / my / is / in / brother / participating / race / said / the / running

2. asked / i / devi / like / maths / problems / solving / free time/ your / in / do / you

3. friends / said / wearing / we / my / are / red / for / dresses / wedding / the / reception

4. responded / teacher / nobody / when / have / completed / the / you / project / many / of / how / asked / the

5. reach / says / tonight / bangalore / he / will / i

6. guest / the / danced / children / the / chief / said / beautifully

7. mom / Finn’s / they / all / said / singing / favourite / are / songs / his

8. Bellas / susan / are / the / said / live / performing / world / the / acapella / at / raiser / curtain

9. love / father / said / i / my / you

10. sing / asked / you / with / maria / her / me / will

Now, if you finished rearranging the sentences, check if you have done it correctly from the answers given below.

1. Vishal said, “My brother is participating in the running race.”

2. I asked Devi, “Do you like solving maths problems in your freetime?”

3. My friends said, “We are wearing red dresses for the wedding reception.”

4. Nobody responded when the teacher asked, “How many of you have completed the project?”

5. He says, “I will reach Bangalore tonight.”

6. The chief guest said, “The children danced beautifully.”

7. Finn’s mom said, “They are singing all his favourite songs.”

8. “The Bellas are performing live at the World Acapella Curtain Raiser”, said Susan.

9. My father said, “I love you.”

10. Maria asked, “Will you sing with me?”

What is direct speech?

Direct speech is a word-to-word repetition of what the speaker or writer has conveyed. In other words, it is the way in which you report the exact words of the speaker. Direct speech can be used to convey something that is being said in the present or to tell someone at a later point of time.

What is the definition of direct speech?

What is the formula of direct speech.

When using direct speech, you can follow the formula given below. Name of the speaker says/said, “Exact words of the speaker.”

How do you punctuate the sentence when using direct speech?

Immediately after the phrase mentioning who said the particular sentence, add a comma followed by open quotation marks, the words of the speaker (capitalise the first letter of the first word) followed by a period, question mark or exclamation mark and the close quotation marks.

Give some examples of direct speech.

Here are a few examples of direct speech that you can refer to.

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What is Direct Speech?

• Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

Direct Speech

Direct speech, also known as direct discourse, relays the exact words spoken. One way to tell when direct speech is used is to look for quotation marks. Another useful indicator is the presence of a reporting verb or a signal phrase.

If you’re looking for a straightforward definition of direct speech, you’re in the right place. So put, direct speech is a sentence where the exact words spoken are written in speech marks, quotation marks, or inverted commas.

Direct Speech can be used in multiple written texts. For example, it is widely used in fiction, which can help readers understand characters better.

Direct Speech Examples

If you’re struggling to picture how direct speech might work, here are some examples to help you get the hang of it.

“What are your plans for tonight?” Said Lisa.

“I don’t have any!”  Said,  Janine

“Do you fancy going out for a meal?” Said Alex.

The Rules of Direct Speech

Children typically begin to learn about direct speech when they are seven to eight. At this time, kids will learn what direct speech is, why it is used, and what general rules they should follow. Here are some of the main reasons why writers use natural speech.

• It can be beneficial for expanding on the development of characters in a story. This is because, by showing the things that people say and the ways that they tell them, readers will learn more about their personalities.
• It can also be beneficial for driving the plot in stories.

Several fundamental rules must be followed when writing a direct speech. Kids must master these rules to effectively and correctly use direct speech. Here is a list of the rules and some direct speech examples to help you get the hang of it.

Speech Marks

In direct speech, punctuation separates the spoken words, or dialogue, from the rest of the text. Therefore, the words directly spoken by a character, i.e., the direct speech, should be placed inside speech marks.

For example:

“Can I ask you a question?” Emily inquired.

“I’m far too tired to play football today,” yawned Sam.

There is some nuance with this direct speech rule: some writers use double speech marks, and some use single speech marks. However, don’t be thrown off by this, as both are perfectly fine!

The only rule is to decide which type of speech marks you want to use and ensure consistency throughout your work. Therefore, you shouldn’t start your work using single speech marks and end it using double ones.

A New Speaker = A New Line

Another rule that must be followed when using direct speech is taking a new line each time a new person speaks. Direct speech is designed to help the reader follow the dialogue in a text. This is why it is so important to structure it. To help the reader follow who precisely is speaking, you must take a new line for each new speaker.

“I didn’t see you at school today,” said Hannah concernedly.

“I wasn’t feeling very well, so I took the day off sick,” explained Tom.

“You poor thing! I hope you’re feeling better tomorrow,” Hannah remarked, hugging her friend.

“Me too,” Tom pouted.

It’s also important to note that each new line of direct speech should start with a capital letter.

Reporting Clauses

A reporting clause occurs after the direct speech and indicates to the reader who is speaking.

“How was your holiday?” asked Mrs. Anderson.

In the example above, the reporting clause, ‘asked Mrs. Anderson’, tells us who is speaking in the text. Reporting clauses are not always necessary if it is clear who is speaking. This is why reporting clauses are often dropped in a text once a conversation between characters gets going.

Punctuation Inside Speech Marks

A punctuation mark should always be at the end of each direct speech section. If there is no reporting clause, this punctuation mark will likely be a complete stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.

“Help! I can’t swim!”

“Hello there, Amy. Can I help you?”

On the other hand, if there is a reporting clause, the punctuation mark will likely be a comma before the final speech marks.

“I am going to walk home with Mary after school,” Lisa explained.

Then, after the reporting clause, there tends to be a complete stop. This may come later on, however, if the sentence continues after the reporting clause.

“My mum said we can walk home together,” said Lisa as she packed her school bag.

Moving the reporting clause

Sometimes, the reporting clause is placed in the middle of a direct speech.

“I am excited to play hockey at the weekend,” said James, “My favorite instructor will be there.”

Even in this instance, you will note that the punctuation still goes inside the speech marks of the first section.

After the reporting clause, a punctuation mark must be used before the second set of direct speech starts. The punctuation mark should be a comma if the reporting clause is in the middle of a sentence. However, if the reporting clause is between two separate speech sentences, it should be a complete stop.

Reported Speech

The rules above are for punctuating direct speech, but we don’t need to use speech marks when punctuating reported speech.

Reported speech (sometimes known as indirect speech) is when we summarise or reword the address instead of quoting the direct words spoken by a person. For example:

Mrs. Wood claimed it had been a tough year for businesses across the country and pledged to keep her staff well-informed of any changes.

When punctuating reported speech, we only need to punctuate the sentence as we would any other sentence, without worrying about using any specific speech punctuation.

When do Children begin to learn about Direct Speech?

Children will begin to learn about Direct Speech in their third year of primary education. Teachers of Lower Key Stage 2 will usually outline the general rules of Direct Speech, which include:

• speech is opened with quotation marks, speech marks, or inverted commas
• each line of speech will start with a capital letter
• a reporting clause is used at the end of the sentence
• a full stop is placed at the end of the reporting clause
• each new character’s speech should begin on a new line

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Example of Narrative Text with Direct Speeches – Monkey and Crocodile

English admin – The story of monkey and crocodile is best fable for learning narrative text relating to direct and indirect speech contents. Most stories are written in these two kinds; direct and indirect. So when learning narrative stories, student must have good understanding on direct or indirect speech for English grammar.

Narrative text is often a story. A story is exploring participants thought, act and feeling. To gain that goal, narrative text will be arranged in lot of direct speeches. The following narrative text is structured clearly.

Generic Structure of Narrative Text on the Story of Monkey and Crocodile 1. Orientation: The participants or characters of the story are a smart monkey and dull crocodile. One day there was a monkey. He wanted to cross a river. There he saw a crocodile The time set is just one day. The story takes place in a river 2. Complication: Every narrative text must consist of conflict or problem. A simple definition of problem is when something goes and it is not what we want. In the story the complication start when the crocodile want to eats the monkey. the crocodile was very hungry, he stopped in the middle of the river and said to the monkey, “My father is very sick. He has to eat the heart of the monkey. Of course the monkey don not want to be the crocodile’s meal and that is the problem which sets the whole story. 3. Resolution: A problem must be resolved. It can succeed or fail. In this story, the monkey succeeds to solve the problem. He get free from the hungry crocodile. The crocodile agreed and turned around. He swam back to the bank of the river. As soon as they reached the river bank, the monkey jumped off the crocodile’s back. Then he climbed up to the top of a tree. To have clear understanding, take a look at the following example of narrative text about the way of a smart monkey getting free from from a hungry dull crocodile.

The Story of Smart Monkey and Dull Crocodile

Example of narrative with generic structure – story of monkey and crocodile

One day there was a monkey. He wanted to cross a river. There he saw a crocodile so he asked the crocodile to take him across the other side of the river. The crocodile agree and told the monkey to jump on its back. Then the crocodile swam down the river with the monkey on his top. Unluckily, the crocodile was very hungry, he stopped in the middle of the river and said to the monkey, “My father is very sick. He has to eat the heart of the monkey. So he will be healthy again.” At the time, the monkey was in dangerous situation and he had to think hard. Then he had a good idea. He told the crocodile to swim back to the river bank. “What’s for?” asked the crocodile. “Because I don’t bring my heart,” said the monkey. “I left it under a tree, near some coconuts in the river bank.” The crocodile agreed and turned around. He swam back to the bank of the river. As soon as they reached the river bank, the monkey jumped off the crocodile’s back. Then he climbed up to the top of a tree. “Where is your heart?” asked the crocodile. “You are foolish,” said the monkey to the crocodile. “Now I am free and I have my heart.”

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Learning Topics

• Explanation
• Descriptive
• Functional text
• bahasa inggris SMP
• bahasa inggris sd

Reported Speech: Direct Speech

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Mainly, there are two types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech. In this lesson, we will focus on the first type: how to use direct speech.

• What Is Direct Speech?

In direct speech (also called quotes ), we repeat the exact words someone said. We place the direct reported speech between quotation marks (also called speech marks or inverted commas ).

• Reporting Verbs

Usually, a direct speech uses a reporting verb in the past simple tense. The most common reporting verbs are:

Reporting verbs can appear before the actual spoken words, after them, or inside the reported sentence.

• Say Vs. Tell

' Say ' and ' tell ' are two of the most common reporting verbs in direct speech, but 'say' is more common. When we use 'say,' we do not mention the addressee of the reported sentence, however, if we do want to mention them, we use the preposition to .

"I'll see you at the party," Mia said.

"See you later," Mia said to me. (Do not say: "See you later," Mia said me .)

However, when we use 'tell' in direct reported speech, we must mention the person being spoken to. ' Tell ' is a verb that needs a direct and indirect object . For example:

"Come over here," Liam told Elijah. (Do not say: "Come over here," Liam told .)

Also, if we want to report a question, we use 'say', not tell.

"Are you OK?" Amelia said. (Do not say: "Are you OK?" Amelia told me .)

If we want to report wishes, greetings, congratulations , etc. we use 'say,' not 'tell.'

"Happy birthday!" Benjamin said. (Do not say: "Happy birthday!" Benjamin told Oliver .)

• Reporting and Reported Clauses

Speech reports have two parts:

• the reporting clause
• the reported clause

The reporting clause contains a reporting verb such as 'say', 'tell', 'ask', 'reply', etc., usually in the past simple tense, and the reported clause contains the actual words the speaker said. The reporting clause may come first or second.

Lucas said, "I have a date with Tiffany tonight."

"Give that back to me!" Noah demanded.

Sometimes, in formal or literary texts, the reporting clause comes in the middle of the reported clause.

"Was it," Ethan asked, "the last time you had seen Mr. Jackson?"

"Yes," Isabella said, "it was the last time."

using direct speech to quote someone

If we want to describe how someone said something, we can use adverbs with the reporting verb.

"I will accept it!" Julian said happily .

"May I speak to him?" she asked somewhat angrily .

In the process of telling a story, especially in novels, when the reporting clause comes second , we often invert the subject and reporting verb. For example:

"My government will invest in the Stock Market," said the queen .

"Hey! Wait for me!" cried Sawyer .

Informal Narratives

Sometimes in informal contexts, we use the present simple tense in the reporting clause. For example:

So then this guy says, "I have a gun. Give me all your money."

In very informal contexts, we can also use the present continuous tense in the reporting clause to make our statement sound dramatic. For example:

And this guy's staring at me and asking, "Didn't you hear me?"

• Direct Speech: Punctuation

In direct speech, a comma is usually placed between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The exact words of the speaker are placed in quotation marks , either single ('…') or double ("…"). If the reported clause comes first , the comma is placed inside the quotation marks. Pay attention to the examples:

"I cannot sing very well," George said.

Nora said, 'I don’t want to marry you.'

If the reported clause is a question or exclamation , we use a question mark or exclamation mark , instead of a comma. For example:

'Are you sure about this?' Penelope asked.

"I don't care!" Gavin shouted.

Sometimes when the reporting clause comes first , we use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause. For example:

Ivan replied: 'I don't think it's possible.'

The reported clause always begins with a capital letter , unless the reporting verb comes in the middle of the sentence.

'Why did you say that?' Hannah asked.

'I will see you there,' Skyler said, ' u nless something comes up.'

Direct speech repeats, or quotes the exact words that were spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the spoken words between quotation marks (" ") and we are not allowed to change the words or the tense of the sentence. We may be reporting something that is being said now (for example a conversation between two people in separate rooms repeated by a friend), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

Here are some important verbs that are used to report something directly.

Recommended

Reported Speech

Reported Speech: Indirect Speech

Inversion and Fronting