June 28, 2021
Do you use said or asked after a ? or tag your interruptions? Any punctuation that bugs you? What’s the hardest for you to get right?
The first thing I thought about when I saw this topic was how to make the post funny, but a comedian I am not. Not for lack of trying, but my sense of humor is warped. People don’t get my attempts at humor, and I have to admit, I’m not that funny. So, you’re stuck with me answering this as blandly as possible. Hopefully, it won’t be that bad.
Punctuation is hard. I don’t get it right 100% of the time. Thank heavens for good editors. But the question mark question I have covered. If I add a tag to a sentence that ends in a question mark, it’s always asked or questioned, but it’s never said. That wouldn’t make sense to me. I suppose it’s possible that a person asks a question in a monotone and using said would work, but I don’t believe I’ve ever written a sentence like that. I have written sentences that grammar programs have interpreted as questions when they aren’t, and then I confuse the computer by refusing to change the period to a question mark. But there’s no ask or said involved.
Is there punctuation that bugs me? Let’s talk quotation marks. Why is there a difference in usage of question marks between the United State and part of Europe? They use the single quote to mark dialogue. ‘Punctuation is the devil,’ rather than the double quotes we use in the US “Punctuation is the devil.” How did that happen and why? Who thought that was a good idea?
And is there punctuation I struggle with? Besides almost all of it? Let’s talk dashes. Why do we need three forms of dashes? Not two, but three. You have the dash – the en-dash – and the em-dash —. The rules of how and why to use each other is enough to make a writer’s s head spin and a grammarian’s heart sing, and I’m not going to try to explain them here. I don’t think I’d do a good job. Feel free to give yourself a headache and research them in your favorite fashion.
What about you? What punctuation do you struggle with? Let’s commiserate in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the other authors on the hop by checking out the links below.
As always, until next time, stay safe.
June 28, 2021
Do you use said or asked after a ? or tag your interruptions? Any punctuation that bugs you? What’s the hardest for you to get right?
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I think I’ve got question and quotation marks for U.S. style. I haven’t even tried to learn the differences for dashes. I prefer one long dash with space on both sides because…personal space for my words, I guess. 😀 I think the short one is for compound words and maybe also telephone numbers. Don’t quote me on that though.
I wish it was that easy, Miko.
The dash brigade can’t agree from software to software, and readers can’t really tell so I use an en or em for interruptions, ellipsis for stalls and fades…
Really wanna make your head hurt? Check out some post post post modernist takes on quotation marks. Sometimes I think certain academics are no better than politicians when it comes to finding new ways to waste time.
https://themillions.com/2015/04/unquote-the-benefits-of-excising-quotation-marks.html
I’ve also had the same grammar software fight with itself. ‘Take out the comma,’ it says, so I do. Check again ‘You need a comma here.’ Alrighty!
I use commas for timing, like rests in music and have learned to ignore ignore the software add-remove-add nonsense.
Oh how I love and loathe grammar! It’s equal parts fascinating and frustrating!
True. When I first learned about the em-dash, I overused it because it seemed so handy.
I see these all the time as an editor. I find the quotation marks and dashes really mess people up, along with commas. I actually wrote a guest blog post about how to use dashes. http://writepublishsell.com/difference-between-em-dash-en-dash/
Interesting post, Audrey. I always thought number ranges took dashes, not en-dashes. (but maybe that’s the mathematical side of me.)
American English versus British English. Now there’s an idea for a prompt (or not).
Actually, I’ve thought about it, Richard, and decided none of us would want the inevitable headache that would result.
It is interesting, Richard, because I thought South Africa used British punctuation, but we use the double speech marks. It seems we use a mixture here, but my publisher who is English has never changed this particular point in my writing. I use the single speech marks for quotes.
Hi Patricia, sorry I am late this week. It’s been a tough one with my dad so ill. I never used asked because there is a question mark so I feel it would be repetitious. I try to keep my use of dialogue tags to a minimum, but they are a necessary evil to identify who is speaking in many cases.
Out of curiosity, I went back and did a search in my unedited WIP to see how many times I used ‘said.’ Some chapters there was only one, a few chapters I had 6 or 7. I’m sure I’ll slim those down as I edit.