1. Dialogue • Quotation marks are used when a writer is repeating a person’s words exactly as they were spoken. • “Be careful,” my father said as I ran out the door. • “I will,” I shouted over my shoulder. • Periods and commas belong INSIDE quotation marks. • If the quotation ENDS, the period goes inside the quotation marks. • In his famous speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “I have a dream.” • If the quotation DOES NOT end the sentence, usually need a comma. Be sure the comma is inside the quotation marks. • “I have a dream today,” said Dr. King.

2. Split Dialogue • When a quotation is broken into parts, a comma comes BEFORE the quotation marks at the beginning of the second part. • “ I have a dream,” he said, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” • “Little strokes,” said Benjamin Franklin, “fell great oaks.”

3. Proofread Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote Happy is the house that shelters a friend that it will never come again is what makes life so sweet said Emily Dickinson I have no way of judging the future said Patrick Henry but by the past

4. Dialogue between characters • In writing dialogue begin a new paragraph each time you alternate or change speakers. “Mom, I’m home!” I yelled. “ How was school today?” she hollered from inside the kitchen. “Ok,” I retorted, not really wanting to strike up a conversation. “If you don’t mind, I would like to curl upon the sofa.” “Not a problem,” my mother replied.