Thread: Commas in Dialogue

I am confused. If I start out saying... Jana nodded, "My dad is the same way." is My capitalized or not? Is the comma correct where it is? Doing a final edit and forgot what I was told about this. Thanks

Yes, that is correct. You always begin with a capital letter unless the quotation is interrupted mid-way....hmmm which means that the first part of the quote is in capital letter then the second part of the quote will begin with a lower case. I don't think i am explaining myself well, sorry!B-but you are correct the way you have it set out!oh, and yes your comma is correct you always put a comma before you quote.

Good, that's the way I had it, but then I looked at it and wasn't sure, my mind boggled. I was on page 118 of 261 pages of the final draft and cringed at the thought of starting from page one again. Thanks

I'm probably wrong, but I would have put a full stop there. If it reads like a continuous sentence, I use a comma, such as:
"My dad is the same way," said Jana.
or:
Jana nodded, adding, "My dad is the same way."

The way you put it sounds more like two sentences to me. My grammar is a bit rusty, and has some holes in it, though, so I would go with the consensus.

I'm pretty sure you're correct to capitalise My, though.

I think what Josh is getting at (and I agree with what they've all said so far) is that you can SAY words, but you can't NOD words. Yes, some people write it that way. Yes, it's bad. If you intended that to be a separate action, it should be a separate sentence (or be "nodded and said, "...") as Josh mentioned.

Just to reiterate the answer to your question, though: always capitalize the first letter of what someone says unless it starts midsentence (midsentence of dialogue -- it doesn't matter if it's in the middle of a narrative sentence).

Originally Posted by j.w.olson

always capitalize the first letter of what someone says unless it starts midsentence (midsentence of dialogue -- it doesn't matter if it's in the middle of a narrative sentence).

1. Put another way, this says, “always capitalise the first letter of what someone says unless it starts in the middle of what they’re saying,” and that’s crazy.

2. How and why would anyone place dialogue in the middle of a narrative sentence? There's no point to it, and it can't be done anyway. If you think it can, please post an example.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

1. Put another way, this says, “always capitalise the first letter of what someone says unless it starts in the middle of what they’re saying,” and that’s crazy.

2. Wot’s a narrative sentence? (Example, PLEASE)

Err... I think what I said made sense. Here's an example:

JW, a few minutes ago, meant to say, "This is the start of a sentence in dialogue, so it's capitalized." He stopped. That was dialogue. This part being written now is what he meant by a narrative sentence -- probably not the best term for it, but it's narration as opposed to dialogue -- it's not being said by a character. So if a bit of dialogue starts in the middle of a sentence told by the narrator (as in JW's first example in this paragraph) you still need to capitalize the dialogue. "When, then, would you not capitalize the first letter of a line of dialogue?" you might ask. "You would not capitalize it," JW would say, "when it's mid-sentence like this phrase I'm currently saying." Get it?

You could also start something mid sentence like this:

"-and that's how I got here," Andrew said as I walked in. The audience applauded, and I waved to catch his attention.

(Apologies for using third person.) Now why is what I said crazy?

It was the phrase "midsentence of dialogue" (in context) that made me itch.

Soooo....Jana nodded. "My dad.... would be correct because it's not verbal, but an action. But if I wrote...Jana grinned and said, "My dad.... that would be correct in that case because it is a tag in front of the dialogue. Right?

oops, double posted

Originally Posted by egpenny

Soooo....Jana nodded. "My dad.... would be correct because it's not verbal, but an action. But if I wrote...Jana grinned and said, "My dad.... that would be correct in that case because it is a tag in front of the dialogue. Right?

Right, so far as I can see.

Okay, got it, thanks everyone. Penny

You would put a full stop there. You can't nod a sentence. You can only speak one.

I always get confused where to put commas.

I was always told it was when there's a paused, or you would take a breath and a full stop is a longer pause or when you have stopped talking and someone else is.

Is that right?

Originally Posted by Frances

I always get confused where to put commas.

I was always told it was when there's a paused, or you would take a breath and a full stop is a longer pause or when you have stopped talking and someone else is.

Is that right?

That's a generalization. There are actual rules for comma use, parsing sentences to indicate subjunctive clauses, for example. I don't remember all the rules because I learned them once and just go on the same way.

JohnB