Unlock the mystery of formatting dialogue - writing dialogue - Teaching Writing

Instructor, Jan-Feb, 1998 by Lois Laase

These mini-lessons evolved from a troubling realization: My students were cranking out fiction without knowing the nuts and bolts of writing dialogue. Quotation marks, periods, commas, and capital letters were appearing in too many places they didn't belong, and all of us were frustrated. This is how I solved the problem.

ACTIVITY

GRADES 4-8

PURPOSE

To build students' awareness of the mechanics of writing dialogue.

MATERIALS

transparency, different colored pens

TIME NEEDED

30 minutes

Look at Books

1 To prepare, choose a passage from a familiar, favorite book. Be sure the passage contains dialogue and speaker tags (phrases that identify the people talking, such as "answered Jane" and "Ted cried loudly") at the beginning, middle, and end of statements. Photocopy the passage onto a transparency.

2 Project the transparency and read the passage aloud.

3 Tell students that they'll be discovering the rules writers follow when they create dialogue.

4 Ask students to think about the different speakers in the conversation. Then have one volunteer per speaker come up and circle the speaker tags, using a different colored pen for each speaker.

5 Have other students come up and underline each speaker's words, using the appropriate colored pen. The different colors allow students to see how conversations are formatted. Here, for example, is how we isolated dialogue in a passage from Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

ACTIVITY

GRADES 4-8

PURPOSE

To help students discover and articulate the rules of writing dialogue.

MATERIALS

marked-up passage from Look at Books activity, chart paper, marker

TIME NEEDED

20 minutes

Create a Rules Chart

1 Have students review the marked-up passage closely, looking for patterns in the dialogue. Use the following questions to help them.

* What marks do you see around the speakers' words?

* Let's look at the periods and question marks. Do they stand alone or are they used with other punctuation marks? Do you see a pattern?

* Where do you find commas in the dialogue? Do you see a pattern?

2 Once you've discussed patterns, encourage students to restate them as rules. Write rules, exactly as students express them, on a piece of chart paper titled RULES FOR WRITING DIALOGUE (see sample, right). Display the chart so students can refer to it while writing.

RULES FOR WRITING DIALOGUE

* Put quotation marks around the speaker's exact words.

* Capitalize the first word the speaker says.

* If the dialogue is first, a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point comes after it.

* The comma, question mark, period, and exclamation point go inside the quotation marks.

* When the dialogue is first and the speaker tag is last, the dialogue is followed by a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point - not a period.

* When the speaker tag is last in the sentence, it is followed by a period.

* Change paragraphs when you change speakers.

ACTIVITY

GRADES 4-8

PURPOSE

To prevent students from overusing the word said in speaker tags.

MATERIALS

independent reading books, chart paper, marker

TIME NEEDED

30 minutes

Escape the "He Said/She Said" Rut

1 Have students search books for speaker tags that contain words other than said.

2 Once students have written down a significant number of words, ask them to share their findings. List their words on a chart labeled OTHER WAYS TO SAY SAID.

3 Post the chart in the room as a reference.

4 Adverbs and prepositional phrases often enhance speaker tags. To help students see that, have them search books for extended speaker tags, such as "ordered in a stern voice" and "asked anxiously." Together, create a list of favorites.

OTHER WAYS TO SAY SAID

cried uttered whispered answered repeated asked remarked shouted stated declared called protested roared replied announced

Lois Laase is a consultant in language arts and has spoken at local and national conferences. She is currently teaching fourth grade at Wingate Elementary School in Grand Junction, Colorado. She has written many books for teachers including, with Joan Clemmons, Language Arts Mini-Lessons: Step-by-Step Skill Builders for Your Classroom (Scholastic, 1995). To order a copy for $16.50, call (800) 724-6527.