Apparently A Lot Of People Get Dialogue Punctuation Wrong Despite Having An Otherwise Solid Grasp Of

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

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writing tips grammar tips

Feels like I should post these here as well - Chinese makeup elements iconic to Mulan’s era!

Meaning the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui dynasty, or the Tang dynasty (~400-900 CE). These few hundred years were when aesthetic styles in China were at their boldest.

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My Chinese history tweet collections

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fashion historical

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thejunkdrawers

2 months ago

Here, take these

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art resource

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thejunkdrawers

2 months ago

Explaining acá and ahí would be a lot easier if English still used “hither” and “thither”.

Like aquí is “here”, and acá is “hither”. Where “hither” means “over here” or “closer”; different from “here” which is an actual place, while “hither” is a direction.

And allí is “there” but ahí can be “thither” which is “towards that place” or “over there” like you’re pointing.

And allá is “all the way over there” or “yon(d)” or “yonder”.

If you study Spanish long enough you’ll understand “Olde” English a whole lot more because they weren’t as different once upon a time.

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vocabulary tips grammar tips

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thejunkdrawers

2 months ago