Dialogue

Dialogue and subtext
Dialogue
Dialogue is conversation that's spoken or written between two or more people, depicted
in a literary or writers can use dialogue as a drama technique in theatrical form.
What is Dialogue?
Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people, or speech that is written down
as part of a piece of narrative text.
It can be presented as reported speech, direct speech (using speech marks), or as

a Play Script.
Writers can use dialogue as a way of advancing the plot of their story, by getting their
characters to reveal their plans of action or share their inner thoughts and emotions.
Examples of dialogue
Dialogue can appear in many different forms of text. Dialogue can appear in the
following forms:
Inverted commas: Punctuation marks - “” - used to demarcate direct speech in a

sentence.
Direct speech: A sentence where the exact words spoken are represented in inverted
commas.
Dialogue: A conversation or speech that is written down as part of a piece of narrative

text.
Written speech:
In written speech, speech marks or quotation marks are used. This will appear in books,
news articles and most forms of printed text that has dialogue in it. For example:
"Today my class is learning about speech and dialogue," said John.
"That sounds really exciting. Do you know much about it?" asked Sally.
This is an extended piece of dialogue because it includes a response. Each time a new
person speaks, it should be put on a new line.
Play script:
In a play script, dialogue is set out with the character's name on the left followed by a
colon with the dialogue. It does not require speech marks. For example:
John: Today my class is learning about speech and dialogue.
Sally: That sounds really exciting. Do you know much about it?
Dialogue as a Tool for Characterization
In all forms of writing, dialogue can help writers flesh out their characters to make them
more lifelike, and give readers a stronger sense of who each character is and where
they come from. This can be achieved using a combination of:
 Colloquialisms and slang: Colloquialism is the use of informal words or

phrases in writing or speech. This can be used in dialogue to establish that a
character is from a particular time, place, or class background. Similarly, slang
can be used to associate a character with a particular social group or age
group.
 The form the dialogue takes: for instance, multiple books have now been
written in the form of text messages between characters—a form which
immediately gives readers some hint as to the demographic of the characters in
the "dialogue."
 The subject matter: This is the obvious one. What characters talk about can tell
readers more about them than how the characters speak. What characters talk
about reveals their fears and desires, their virtues and vices, their strengths and
their flaws.
Dialogue in Prose
In prose writing, which includes fiction and nonfiction, there are certain grammatical and
stylistic conventions governing the use of dialogue within a text. We won't cover all of
them in detail here (we'll skip over the placement of commas and such), but here are
some of the basic rules for organizing dialogue in prose:
 Punctuation: Generally speaking, lines of dialogue are encased in double

quotation marks "such as this," but they may also be encased in single
quotation marks, 'such as this.' However, single quotation marks are generally
reserved for quotations within a quotation, e.g., "Even when I dared him he
said 'No way,' so I dropped the subject."
 Dialogue tags: Dialogue tags (such as "he asked" or "she said") are used to
attribute a line of dialogue to a specific speaker. They can be placed before or
after a line of dialogue, or even in the middle of a sentence, but some lines of
dialogue don't have any tags at all because it's already clear who is speaking.
Here are a few examples of lines of dialogue with dialogue tags:
o "Where did you go?" she asked.
o I said, "Leave me alone."
o "Answer my question," said Monica, "or I'm leaving."
 Line breaks: Lines of dialogue spoken by different speakers are generally

separated by line breaks. This is helpful for determining who is speaking when
dialogue tags have been omitted.
Of course, some writers ignore these conventions entirely, choosing

instead to italicize lines of dialogue, for example, or not to use
quotation marks, leaving lines of dialogue undifferentiated from other
text except for the occasional use of a dialogue tag. Writers that use
nonstandard ways of conveying dialogue, however, usually do so in a
consistent way, so it's not hard to figure out when someone is
speaking, even if it doesn't look like normal dialogue.
Indirect vs. Direct Dialogue
In prose, there are two main ways for writers to convey the content of a conversation
between two characters: directly, and indirectly. Here's an overview of the difference
between direct and indirect dialogue:
 Indirect Dialogue: In prose, dialogue is often summarized without using any

direct quotations (as in "He told her he was having an affair, and she replied
callously that she didn't love him anymore, at which point they parted ways").
When dialogue is summarized in this way, it is called "indirect dialogue." It's
useful when the writer wants the reader to understand that a conversation has
taken place, and to get the gist of what each person said, but doesn't feel that
it's necessary to convey what each person said word-for-word.
o This type of dialogue can often help lend credibility or verisimilitude to

dialogue in a story narrated in the first-person, since it's unlikely that a
real person would remember every line of dialogue that they had
overheard or spoken.
 Direct Dialogue: This is what most people are referring to when they talk about
dialogue. In contrast to indirect dialogue, direct dialogue is when two people
are speaking and their words are in quotations.
Dialogue in Plays
Dialogue in plays (and screenplays) is easy to identify because, aside from the stage
directions, dialogue is the only thing a play is made of. Here's a quick rundown of the
basic rules governing dialogue in plays:
 Names: Every line of dialogue is preceded by the name of the person speaking.
 Adverbs and stage directions: Sometimes an adverb or stage direction will be inserted
in brackets or parentheses between the name of the speaker and the line of dialogue
to specify how it should be read, as in:
o Mama (outraged) : What kind of way is that to talk about your brother?
 Line breaks: Each time someone new begins speaking, just as in prose, the new line of
dialogue is separated from the previous one by a line break.
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Dialogue and subtext

It can be presented as reported speech, direct speech (using speech marks), or as

Inverted commas: Punctuation marks - “” - used to demarcate direct speech in a

Dialogue: A conversation or speech that is written down as part of a piece of narrative

"Today my class is learning about speech and dialogue," said John.

John: Today my class is learning about speech and dialogue.

Dialogue as a Tool for Characterization

 Colloquialisms and slang: Colloquialism is the use of informal words or

 Punctuation: Generally speaking, lines of dialogue are encased in double

o "Where did you go?" she asked.

o I said, "Leave me alone."

o "Answer my question," said Monica, "or I'm leaving."

 Line breaks: Lines of dialogue spoken by different speakers are generally

Of course, some writers ignore these conventions entirely, choosing

Indirect vs. Direct Dialogue

 Indirect Dialogue: In prose, dialogue is often summarized without using any

o This type of dialogue can often help lend credibility or verisimilitude to

to specify how it should be read, as in:

dialogue is separated from the previous one by a line break.

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