Rules For Punctuating Dialogue.

1.) Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation- a person's exact words.
* "When the bell rings," said the teacher, "leave the room quietly."
* "Please return these books to the library," said Ms.Chu.

2.) A direct quotation begins with a capital letter.
* Maria said, "The frame isn't strong enough."
* Richard Lovelace wrote, "Stone walls do not a prison make."

3.) Use quotation marks to enclose each part of an interrupted quotation. The second
part begins with a small letter. (called Interrupters)
* "Spiders," EXPLAINED SEAN, "have eight legs."
* "Lightning has always awed people," EXPLAINED MRS.BELMONT, "and many of
us are still frightened by it."
* "The time has come," INSISTED THE SPEAKER, "to improve our educational
program."

4.) A direct quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Place commas
INSIDE closing quotation marks. No comma is needed if an end mark is used
instead.
* "It's time to go," said the guide.
* The man replied, "I'm ready."

5.) A question mark or an exclamation point should be placed inside the closing
quotation marks IF THE QUOTATION IS A QUESTION OR AN EXCLAMATION. In
this the case, the interrupter will begin with a lower case letter. Otherwise it
should be placed outside.
* "How far have we come?" asked the exhausted man.
* Who said, "Give me liberty or give me death?"
* "Jump!" ordered the woman.
* I couldn't believe it when he said, "No, thank you"!

6.) When you write dialogue, begin a new paragraph every time the speaker changes.
* "Lets get going," Claire said. "I want to make sure we're there on time otherwise
Laura will be mad at us!"
"Whats your hurry, Claire?" Janie said. Janie didn't seem at all worried about
anything. She didn't ever care if people were mad at her.
" Well,I promised we'd be there by seven thirty. Its a half-hour ride, and it's
nearly seven now," Claire explained. "Let's go!"

7.) When a quotation consists of several sentences, put quotation marks on at the
beginning and end of the whole quotation, not around each sentence in the
quotation.
* INCORRECT: "I'll wait for you at Burke's Drug Store." "Get there as soon as you
can." "We don't want to be late," he said and rushed off down the
hall.

* CORRECT: "I'll wait for you at Burke's Drug Store. Get there as soon as you can.
We don't want to be late," he said and rushed off down the hall.

8.) Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation.
* "Let's sing 'Home on the Range,'" suggested Jim.
* "Did Ms. Numan really say, 'It's alright if to use your books during the test'?"
asked Sally.


So what do you think? I took this from my 8th grade Language Arts class notes. Hope I helped some one.