Use of Semi-colons:
You can use a semi-colon between sentences instead of a period if the information is closely related.
For example:
- We decided to play a trick on Tyler; we left the rest stop without him.
- He didn’t fall for it; he called us on his cell phone.
- We had to drive about 12 miles; there was no place to turn around and go back for him.
Creating Dialogue:
Following is an example of how to show action and use dialogue.
Here is some dialogue you might hear on a road trip.
Hey Who Ate All the . . . .?
“Hey dude, quit hoggin’ all the chips!” Justin looked in the rear view mirror at Carlos.
“I’m not hoggin’ ‘em. Tyler totally wasted them before I even got the bag,” Carlos objected, slapping Justin on the back of his head.
Tyler looked up, his plastic 7-11 cup full of Doritos, his mouth covered with orange powder. “Who, me? No way! You guys totally snarfed them all.”
Carlos retorted, “ Yeah, and who bought them? You owe me four bucks!”
Read the following points of how to write dialogue and then review the above Hey Who Ate All the . . . .?? example to see how these points are used in a complete scene:
- Begin the quote with a capital letter.
- Start a new paragraph every time the speaker changes.
- Use a comma (,) before the first set of quotation marks (“ “) if you include the speaker at the beginning of the sentence, as in Carlos retorted, “Yeah, and who bought them?
- Use a capital letter in the first word of the quotation if you include the speaker at the beginning of the sentence, as in Carlos retorted, “Yeah, and who bought them? ...
- Use a comma before the last set of quotation marks ( “ “) when you include the speaker at the end of the sentence, as in ... Tyler totally wasted them before I even got the bag,” Carlos objected,
- You can include information after what the person said to add to the narrative, as in Justin looked in the rear view mirror at Carlos.
- Since you are writing what people say, it is OK to use incorrect English or “speaking-writing” if that’s what people actually say as for example, “hoggin’ ‘em’’ instead of “hogging them” and “snarfed” instead of “ate it all.”
- Look at magazines or books for more examples or at one of the writers’ sites for help.
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