The Ultimate Dialogue Tag Guide

If the Editing Mafia™️ put a gun to my head and told me I had to name the most common copy/line editing error in fiction writing, my answer would be incorrect dialogue tags. At EJL Editing, Maddi and I see these all the time. I rarely see a manuscript that doesn’t have any dialogue tag errors.

And I understand why. It isn’t always clear which verbs are serving as dialogue verbs and which are action verbs. And even if you can tell the difference, you still have to remember which gets formatted which way. And then there’s punctuation and capitalization to worry about! Ooof!

If you’ve ever worked with us for copy/line editing, some of these explanations may look familiar but stick with me because I’m including fresh examples and verb lists. Let’s get into it!

What are dialogue tags?

Dialogue tags are the words immediately before or after dialogue that serve to tell readers who is speaking and the nature of their speech.

What are action tags?

Action tags may also fall immediately before or after dialogue however they typically contain actions that a character is performing before/after/during speech. The vital difference is that action tags do not describe the nature of the character’s speech.

Common dialogue verbs

Answer

Ask

Curse

Exclaim

Explain

Joke

Lecture

Mumble

Murmur

Reply

Respond

Retort

Said

Scold

Scream

Tease

Whisper

Yell

Common action verbs

Eye roll

Gaze (at)

Grin

Look (at)

Scowl

Sigh

Smile

Smirk

Sneeze

Yawn

Context dependent verbs

Here’s where things can get a little hairy. There are a number of verbs that can serve as either action or dialogue verbs depending on the context. Some of the common ones are:

Cry

Huff

Laugh

Push

Spit

Whimper

Grammar Rules

Now that we’ve looked at the verbs, let’s learn how to treat dialogue and action tags.

• When a dialogue tag follows speech, the dialogue should end in any punctuation except a period. Additionally, the first word of the dialogue tag should begin with a lowercase letter (unless a proper noun.)

• When a dialogue tag precedes speech, the tag should end with a comma and the speech should begin with a capital letter.

• When an action tag follows speech, the dialogue should end in any punctuation except a comma. The action tag following the dialogue should begin with a capital letter as any new sentence would.

• When an action tag precedes speech, the tag should end with any punctuation except a comma. The dialogue should begin with a capital letter.

Examples

Now that you’re surely confused, let’s look at examples to clear everything up. For convenience, all dialogue tags are in blue text and all action tags are in gold text.

“No! Quiet, Ruby!” EJ scolds her barking dog.

“Have you seen my wallet?” her husband asks.

“I want soup for lunch today,” the woman announces.

Tara calls from the kitchen, “Good morning!”

“I don’t want any broccoli!” he cries out.

“What do we need—” A sneeze interrupts Nate’s question.

Mary smiles at her son’s empty plate. “Did you like your buttered noodles?”

“Of course, you would say that.” John rolls his eyes.

“Did you see my goal, Mommy? I was so fast!” The little girl bounces excitedly.

The pitcher spits on the mound before settling in. “Let’s see what the newbie’s got.”

Dialogue Interruptions

Now that we’ve looked at basic action and dialogue tags, let’s see what happens when the tag interrupts the dialogue.

• When a dialogue tag interrupts speech, it should be formatted as a continuation of the sentence.

• When an action tag interrupts speech, it should be formatted either as a separate sentence or formatted with em dashes on either side outside of the dialogue.

Interruption Examples

“What are you thinking for dinner?” he asks. “Because I bought some fish at the store I think we should cook.”

“I have to finish the project I’m working on,” Sam explains. “But I was thinking about watching a movie after.”

“You’re going to wear that to school?” Katie twists her face into a grimace. “It doesn’t even match your purse!”

“I can’t believe that you”—Adrian spins to glare at Mark—“of all people would condone this behavior.”

While there are an almost infinite number of ways to configure verbs and dialogue, I hope that this guide will bring some clarity to your tags!