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I've seemed to have a problem with getting this right and doubting myself. In regards to writing dialogue, do you follow up with capitalisation after punctuation marks? Can someone tell me which is correct:

  1. 'Do you know where we are going?' She said.
  2. 'Do you know where we are going?' she said.

And if it isn't an exclamation but an action, is it the same rule. For example:

  1. 'Do you know where we are going?' She laughed.
  2. 'Do you know where we are going?' she laughed.

and also, to be a nuisance, can someone tell me which of the following are correct too: 5. 'Seraphina?' the dark Persian man cried. 6. 'Seraphina?' The dark Persian man cried.

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  • 2, 4, 5 -- a sentence within a sentence.
    – S. Mitchell
    Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 19:25

1 Answer 1

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You don't capitalize the dialogue tag she said or she laughed if it's attached to your dialogue. You would only capitalize She laughed if it's a new thought. So:

"Do you know where we are going?" she said.

"We're going to Albuquerque," he responded.

"Seraphina!" the dark Persian man cried.

BUT

"Do you know where we are going?" She struggled not to shout.

"We're going to Albuquerque." He laughed. It was an old joke.

"Seraphina!" The dark Persian man wept to see her.

There's a related recent discussion here: Why end sentences with commas instead of periods when the sentence is in a quote?

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  • This is the correct answer. "Why?" he said. is the whole sentence.
    – Ken Mohnkern
    Commented Apr 3, 2016 at 14:41
  • I agree with Lauren; however, I feel this is unusual construction. He laughed. "We're going to Albuquerque." It was an old joke. Your example suggests he laughs after his statement, which is fine, but a better sentence: *After Joe said, "We're going to Albuquerque," he laughed heartily. It was an old joke.
    – Stu W
    Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 14:38
  • @StuW Yes, you are correct; that's normally how I would write it. I was trying to get as close as possible to the OP's original example to make a point.
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 16:05

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