Prose checks › Dialogue punctuation Pro

Prose check: dialogue punctuation“Hello.” she said. Or “Hello,” she said?

Dialogue punctuation is the thing an editor notices on page one. Falcontext finds the five usual slips, and where Fix works, it fixes them for you.

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In Falcontext’s Edit tab, Dialogue punctuation is one part of Punctuation rules, with punctuation style (Chicago). Each part has its own light, and the worst sets the check’s.

How to punctuate dialogue: the short version

A tag follows? End the line with a comma, inside the quotation marks. “Hello,” she said.
The tag starts small. “Hello,” she said. Not “Hello,” She said.
A question or exclamation keeps its mark, and gets no comma. “Hello?” she said.
An action isn’t a tag. End the line with a full stop, and start the action with a capital. “Hello.” She smiled.

That’s it. Really.

The five slips Falcontext finds

Slip“Hello.” she said.
“Hello” she said.
“Hello”, she said.
“Hello,” She said.
“Hello,” she smiled.

Fixed“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello.” She smiled.

A full stop where a tag follows. No comma at all. The comma outside the quotation marks. A capital after the comma. And a comma before an action. (You can’t smile a word.)

How Falcontext checks dialogue punctuation

Guidelines, not rules. These follow the usual conventions. If your book breaks them on purpose, ignore away.

Falcontext’s Edit tab beside Perch’s writing pad: the Dialogue punctuation check open, finding all five slips, each with Fix and Fix all, marked in the text.

Finds

The five slips above, each one marked in your text with its fix.

Traffic light

Nothing to fix
1–3
4 or more

Fix

Fix changes the one shown and Fix all changes them all, right in your draft, in Google Docs, Atticus, WordPress, Ellipsus and Perch’s writing pad. Undo takes it back. In the desktop app it finds them, and you fix them yourself.

Related, in Pro too: Dialogue quotes (double or single quotation marks, used one way throughout), Curly or straight quotes, and Punctuation style (Chicago), which puts commas and full stops inside the closing quote, as most US publishers do.

Dialogue punctuation is a detail, so the guide keeps it for pass 5, proofing, with the other punctuation: once you’ve stopped rewriting the lines themselves.

Which one of the five trips you up?

Questions about dialogue punctuation.

Does a comma or a full stop go before “she said”?

A comma, inside the quotation marks: “Hello,” she said. A full stop is for an action that follows instead of a tag: “Hello.” She smiled.

Is “she smiled” a dialogue tag?

No. Smiling isn’t a way of speaking, so it’s an action beat: end the dialogue with a full stop and start the action with a capital. Falcontext flags “Hello,” she smiled.

Can Falcontext fix dialogue punctuation for me?

Yes, with Fix and Fix all in Google Docs, Atticus, WordPress, Ellipsus and Perch’s writing pad, and Undo takes it back. In the desktop app it finds them and you fix them by hand. Dialogue punctuation is part of Pro ($1.99/month or $19.99/year, with a free trial).

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