What is Dialogue?

A Lesson by compositionc

The basics.

–noun

conversation between two or more persons.

the conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc.

an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, especially a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement.

This is the dictionary's definition of dialogue. This course will be focusing on defintion number two. Even more so, in a novel. I actually have had to point out these errors. It makes me sad to know people have never read a book and learned from it. Like, you can call me a hypocrite, but I'm just going to point out your Grammar errors and barely scratch the surface of dialogue content. I don't care what you say, as long as it's properly said.

Let's look at some very common errors.

"how are u"

I know this is crappy, but I have seen this before. *shudders* What are the errors in this sentence?

1. The H in how must be capitalized.

2. U? Seriously? Try spelling it out as 'you'.

3. No question mark. Put on in now.

"How are you?"

"I can't believe this." I said.

The author of this sentence is going to be unnamed. What are the errors in this sentence?

1. The end punctuation is incorrect. This is my pet peeve. I HATE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS.

"I can't believe this," I said.

This is the most common error ever. I will go very much in depth with this error, and explain why you put a comma instead of the period.

"I need slippers a blanket and some water now." She said.

The author of this sentence has corrected it, but this is a good example.

1. Comma hater. When you make a list of three or more items, you put a comma in between each item. The proper phrase would be 'slippers, a blanket, and some water now'

2. No period, you put the comma.

3. The s in 'she' does not need to be capitalized.

*I need slippers, a blanket, and some water now," she said.

These are some of the errors I will hopefully cover in this course, and I hope you pay attention. :D

fin

Comments

halflives

Posted 12 Years Ago

YES. YES. What's even worse than "insertdialougehere." ?
"insertdialougehere".
ITHINKI'MGONNADIE.

Enjoy

Posted 12 Years Ago

Ah, well. This explains it: `the oxford comma` as it is commonly called may be either included or omitted. However, in British English it is oft excluded and Americans oft include it.

:)

Enjoy

Posted 12 Years Ago

I respectfully disagree with putting a comma before the "and" in your second example. I believe it can be done with or without but I was taught that:

"I need slippers, a blanket and some water now," she said.

would be correct. Maybe I was misled. I'll google.