Question Marks ?:

[Sabrina Bergin]

I have been writing a couple of stories here but I am struggling with the Grammer.

So a couple of questions if you could be kind enough to asisst.

I use a lot of dialogue between characters so when they ask a question for example

"Are you sure ?"

Do I have to then follow it: with he or she asked or does the qwuetion mark alone suffice.

And secondly with qoutation marks where a single character is speaking do I have to put qoutation marks eiother end of each portion of speach or do I just put the qoutation marksat the beginning of the dailogue and at the end of the sentence when he might cease speaking then continue.

Any advice will be appreciated.

[46_n_2]

quotation marks are used for any spoken word. example:

"Hi my name is Lee." the man said, "can i help you with anything?"

"actually yes." the woman replied. "where is the bathroom at?"

the man pointed towards the back of the store. "it is over there"
---------------------------------------------

if it is obvious who is saying it there is no need to say he said. if it is not obvious then say who said it (unless you are being vague for story reasons) you have to make a new paragraph anytime someone else speaks tho. so if there are just two people you can usually skip the he said or she said. example:

two men were talking the first said "hello how are you?"
"fine" replied the other
"thats good hows the family?"
"oh theyre fine as well, about to go on vacation actually"
"thats good have a nice time"
------------------------------------------------
now im no english teacher or anything, but thats the rules i tend to go by..... hopefully i didnt confuse you i suck at explaining things....

[ajax34i]

Duplicate post, sorry.

[ajax34i]

Note the tenses, too, you have to keep track of them. The man and the woman are speaking in the present, so everything inside the " " marks is in the present, but the narrative usually is in the past, so the "the man said" and "the woman replied" parts have to be in the past too.

If the dialogue sentences are long, like, paragraphs, like they just won't stop talking, it's good to remind the reader who's speaking every so often with the "the man said" and "the woman replied" parts.

Correct punctuation:

"Hi, my name is Lee," the man said. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Actually, yes," the woman replied. "Where is the bathroom at?"
The man pointed towards the back of the store: "It's over there."

Two men were talking. The first said "Hello, how are you?"
"Fine," replied the other.
"That's good; how's the family?"
"Oh, they're fine as well, about to go on vacation, actually..."
"That's good! Have a nice time!"

You can put a comma at the end of what they say in order to finish the sentence with the period. "Hi, my name is Lee." becomes "Hi, my name is Lee," the man said. But exclamation marks and question marks cannot be replaced: "OMG!" she yelled excitedly.

[46_n_2]

yea punctuation i have more of a problem with... thank god for word lol

also my non-story posts are rarely ever capitalized or correctly punctuated.... i end almost everything with the pause (...) whatever thats called....

i was doing some research on the evolution of grammar, and apparently within 20-50 years everyone will be righting liek moreons ne wayz only the professional writers will adhear to the rules set forth in academia... what a sad state of affairs i blame teh intrawebz

[Libelnon]

'...' is an ellipsis. Pretty much just indicates a pause.

Word's grammar checker's good, but not top notch. If it's any consolidation though, it might be an idea to get in touch with someone and ask them to proof-read your pieces and help you on that. I've read some of your DiD, and while the story's good, it's difficult to follow without the correct grammar

I'd offer myself for the role, but I'm busy writing my own character input for Kirlack's Pieces of Eight, toying with some of my own DiD ideas, and starting uni in just short of 4 weeks - I'm not sure I'd have the time

[Triaxx2]

Grammar is all a matter of feel. Remember that most grammar rules are based on dead languages.

Punctuation is a requirement. Typically, when I have a conversation, I'll write something along the lines:

"Hello, my name is Lee, is there anything I can help you with?" the man asked. (You can hear yourself saying something like that. You might be nervous, or eager to get the attention of the person, or perhaps you're just unsure of whether you need to do it like that. So it wouldn't necessarily be broken into two sentences. Also, I try not to interrupt the flow of talk, unless it's a very long piece of conversation, or unless the emotions are changing from one part of it to another.)

"Actually, yes. Can you tell me where the restroom is?" she replied. (This one is different from the previous example. She's definitely in a hurry, but she's also trying to be polite, so she's talking calmly, but a specific clarity. That means having two sentences becomes important. A period indicates not only the start of a new sentence, but a more significant pause than a comma, which might well be just an inhaling of breath.)

Lee pointed to the rear of the store. "It's just back there." (He's responding to her polite question in kind, and giving her a direction to start moving in. It also assures the reader that it's him saying it, and if he's to be an important character, further imprints his name on their mind.)

The distinction between comma, period and ellipsis is a subtle but important one.

"Let's eat grandma."
"Let's eat, grandma."
"Let's eat. Grandma."
"Let's eat... grandma."

Four different punctuations, four different meanings. The first is a clear and instant decision that Grandma is on the menu. The second is suggesting to grandma that it's time to eat. The third is suggesting they eat, and then getting Grandma's attention. The last is deciding to eat, pausing for consideration, and then deciding Grandma is on the menu.

So while you might use an ellipsis for... deciding what's for lunch from the menu, you wouldn't necessarily use it for deciding where to shoot the charging bull.

"Rick, shoot it in the head!" (Rick pulls the trigger, survives, has steak.)
"Rick.... shoot it in the head." (Rick is hamburger, and our speaker now has an angry bull stomping on them.)

[46_n_2]

if you see something in my work please feel free to comment and let me know (or send a PM or something) i havent had my grammar checked by someone qualified to do so in a very long time lol

i've been looking for people to help proofread but no one wants to take the time lol... its understandable tho time is in short supplies these days...

but enough of about my (lack of) grammar.... any other questions Shaun?

[Sabrina Bergin]

Thank you all for your replies I am incorporating your suggestions whilst I am editing my stories.

(I had forgotten howm many pages there were) So it is an ongoing process.

BUt again thank you all for your helpful response's it is much appreciated.

46_n_2

The only unresolved question is in regards the use of question marks and the need to use "he asked"/"she asked" etc. but thank you for your response.
Woull you care to explain how exactly to up load a file from MS word as I just cant seem to mannage it.

[46_n_2]

i just highlight everything then press Ctrl+c (copy) then in the post a reply box press ctrl+v (paste)

cant really load it to my knowledge just copy/paste it

[Triaxx2]

Yeah, that's what I do.