Writing: Descriptive and Narrative Writing (Advanced) (B2) - Lesson 4: Using Dialogue Effectively

Writing: Narrative Techniques

B2 Lesson 4: Using Dialogue Effectively

What you will learn: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly punctuate and format dialogue to reveal character and advance your story.

Model Text: A Short Scene ✍️

Using dialogue is a powerful tool. Let's look at a short conversation and notice how the punctuation and formatting work.

"What should we do this weekend?" Dara asked as he looked up from his phone.

Vuthy thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," he replied slowly. "I was thinking we could take a trip to the countryside, but the weather forecast looks bad."

"That's a shame!" Dara exclaimed, letting out a sigh. "I really wanted to get out of the city."

"Well," Vuthy said with a smile, "what about the new Marvel movie instead?"

Breaking Down the Dialogue

Let's analyze the rules that make the dialogue clear and easy to read.

💡 Rule 1: Use Quotation Marks (" "). Notice how the spoken words like "What should we do this weekend?" are always inside quotation marks.

💡 Rule 2: Punctuation Goes Inside. The punctuation, like the question mark in "weekend?" or the comma in "I'm not sure," is always inside the final quotation mark.

💡 Rule 3: Use Dialogue Tags. Phrases like "Dara asked" and "he replied slowly" are dialogue tags that tell us who is speaking and how they are speaking.

💡 Rule 4: New Speaker, New Paragraph. Every time the speaker changes from Dara to Vuthy, a new line starts. This is the most important formatting rule.

Your Writer's Toolkit 🛠️

Why Use Dialogue?

• It Reveals Character: What a person says and how they say it shows their personality.
• It Advances the Plot: Characters can share important information or make decisions.
• It Creates Tension: Arguments and disagreements create excitement.
• It Breaks Up Text: It adds white space and makes the story easier to read.

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B2 Dialogue Checklist

• Have I put quotation marks around all spoken words?
• Is all ending punctuation (. , ? !) correctly placed inside the quotation marks?
• Have I started a new paragraph every time the speaker changes?
• Does the dialogue sound realistic for the characters?
• Have I used stronger dialogue tags than "said" where appropriate?

Practice Your Dialogue Skills 🎯

Quiz: Punctuating Dialogue

Choose the correctly punctuated sentence.

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1. "I am not sure", he said.
2. "I am not sure," he said.
3. "I am not sure." he said.

→ Answer: B. The comma must go inside the quotation marks when the dialogue tag comes after.

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1. She asked, "What time is it?"
2. She asked "What time is it?".
3. She asked, "What time is it"?.

→ Answer: A. A comma is used after the dialogue tag, and the question mark goes inside the final quotation mark.

Your Writing Mission ⭐

Writing Task: Write a Short Scene

Your task is to write a short, realistic scene with dialogue in your notebook.

Scenario: Two friends are at a cafe. One friend (Friend A) tells the other (Friend B) some surprising news. (For example: "I won the lottery," or "I'm moving to another country.")

Your Task: Write the short conversation (about 4-6 lines of dialogue). You must follow all the punctuation and formatting rules from today's lesson. Show Friend B's surprise through their words.

Key Vocabulary

• Dialogue (Noun) | ការសន្ទនា
  A conversation between two or more people in a book, play, or movie.
• Quotation Marks (Noun) | សញ្ញា​សម្រង់ (" ")
  Punctuation marks used to show the beginning and end of a character's spoken words.
• Dialogue Tag (Noun Phrase) | ឃ្លាប្រាប់អ្នកនិយាយ
  The phrase that identifies the speaker, such as "he said" or "she asked".
• Realistic / Authentic (Adjective) | ដូចការពិត
  Seeming real and true to life.