[NancyBrooke]

I've seen this a lot now, and when betaing I recommend a change, but I'm seeing it so much I'm having doubts.

What's correct?:

"I can't believe she doesn't know this." He said. "I thought she knew everything."

~or~

"I can't believe she doesn't know this," he said. "I thought she knew everything." (making the whole thing one sentence optional)

Is this some wacky European convention about which I didn't get the memo? I always have a good time at those conventions ...

[Vilwarin]

I would use the second sentence, grammatically correct and better-looking. *lol*

~Vil

[SpaceWeavil]

Second one.

I've seen people do the first example and I always change it. Oddly enough, I was told it was a wacky US convention I didn't get the memo about. The Penguin Writer's Manual's section on punctuation backs me up, and in fact makes no mention at all of the first example-style punctuation. Since it gives the US examples where they differ, I'd say the first type of sentence doesn't exist in correct grammar.

[krazykataave]

Second one definately.

[Cressida]

I agree with all the others who say the second example is the only correct one.

Like you, I'm seeing the first kind of example more and more often when I beta, and I've been wondering where it comes from. A suggestion from a computer grammar checker, maybe? (Those things are so bad that frankly, I think it's better for people just to turn them off.)

[Robbie]

Second one is the way I learnt too.

And I thinkg that's about 6 votes to none...

[NancyBrooke]

[ghettoelleth]

Dialogue tags should always be part of the sentence that contains the dialogue. But that said, this is a good place to include something that I use all the time. I get as distracted by dialogue tags when I'm reading as I do by excessive use of pronouns beginning sentences. Unfortunately, in my own writing, I'm as guilty of it as anyone else. At least until I've done the first edit. But its can be tedious to come up with varying dialogue tags. He said/she said is just so easy. With that in mind, I found this cool pdf format handout thingamahbob and thought I'd share.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson291/dialogue_tag.pdf

[NancyBrooke]

That whole site is interesting ... thanks, G!

[ghettoelleth]

I use it alot because of the fact that it focuses on fiction writers and allows for a lot of play when it comes to dialogue. I find that if I try to stay too mechanically chaste, my dialogue seems really unnatural. This is probably because I'm such a noob at writing, but maybe it's not just me. The people who write the articles for this site take this into account and will even tell you things like this:

You lie on the bed
You lay something else on the bed
BUT...the past tense of the irregular verb, to lie, is lay. He lay on the bed and tried to sleep.

But then they go on to say that in dialogue it's perfectly acceptable to say, "I'm going to go lay down," because most people talk that way...except for editors and English teacher. I thought that was a hoot.

[SilverMoonLady]

Ooooh, I like that list:)) Shall have to peruse the site further:) Though I'll quickly mention what most of us, I'm sure, have heard, that most readers will unconsciously skip the 'he/she said' in most dialogue, and it only registers consciously if you use an alternate word.