Good Grammar: Dialogue

Sometimes, writers make stylistic choices. e e cummings and James Joyce are probably extreme examples, but you get the point. In the end, all that mattered was that people could get used to what they were doing, because it was consistent. It was still readable, because it followed some sort of pattern - however undefinable.

For some reason, a lot of the writers I've worked with can't figure out the basics of dialogue and how to punctuate it. And when questioned about it, they almost always go for the "stylistic choice" argument, when really, it's just because they're afraid to admit they have no idea how to do it correctly.

Well, good news! We're going to talk the basics of dialogue punctuation today.

Here's the easist example: Sally said, "John, tell the class your name."

OK, let's break it down. Sally said is the attribution. This is the part of dialogue where we put which character is talking. Generally speaking, we use the verb "said" to do this. Said, when the attribution is first, is followed by a comma, then the start of the quote. Notice the spacing here, too: no space after "said" and before the quote start, but a space before the first quotation mark.

Whatever the character is saying is surrounded by two sets of quotation marks, one to mark the beginning of the talking and one to mark the end. Notice that there can be punctuation, as normal, inside the quotation mark. In our example, the comma after "John" doesn't change just because it's inside the quotation marks.

At the end of the quote, since this is the end of our sentence, we put a period inside the quotation mark. This is an area of common mistakes, as sometimes people will put commas inside and periods outside.

Let's take a look at another example, if the attribution is after the quote: "John, tell the class your name," Sally said.

Notice that the parts of the sentence are the same, but the punctuation has changed. Inside the quotation marks, there is now a comma. This is a replacement for our original period, signifying the end of a complete sentence inside the quotation marks. Our period moves to the end of the sentence.

And once again, the punctuation inside the quotation is standard - the quotation marks don't change other grammar rules.

So what about question marks and exclamation marks, then?

Question Mark: Jake asked Molly, "Would you like to go out with me?"

Exclamation Point: "Run for your lives!" Elizabeth shouted.

These two work pretty much the same way and in a very similiar way to the period. Just like before, the sentence-ending punctuation of the question mark ends the sentence. There's no need to put another period after the quotation mark. Also, notice that I put "Molly" after the "said", even though Jake was speaking. That's fine, as long as you have that comma before the first quotation mark.

In the second example, we have our sentence-ending punctuation in the form of an exclamation mark. Here, we do need a period - but only after the entire sentence has been completed, so after our attribution.

Attributions don't have to always be given, as long as it is clear to the reader who is speaking.

For example: Darla wanted to say what she was feeling, so she walked up to the mike. "I hate you all."

It's fairly certain, especially if other characters haven't been mentioned recently, that Darla is the one saying, "I hate you all." Technically, there is no attribution here, and we use our punctuation to show that the quote itself is a complete sentence with a period at the end.

So, those are your dialogue basics, and should actually get you through about 75% of your dialogue needs. So no more saying that your lack of commas is a stylistic choice.

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Not easy being greenPrinted circuit brados, or PCBs are found in practically everything that you interact with daily that uses electricity. Everything from computers and cell phones to cars and trucks, your household appliances and remote controls, they all have PCBs in them somewhere. The vast majority of them are green though some are red, blue, yellow, black, white, or brown but why, for the most part, green?A bit of anatomyA PCB is made of many layers of different materials. Without going into excruciating detail, circuit brados are essentially comprised of four different bits:Conducting layers made of thin copper foilInsulating layers Teflon is a common oneEpoxy resin (impregnated with fiberglass or similar) to bind the conducting and insulating layers togetherSolder mask the bit that coats the board and covers the tracesIt's the solder mask that gives the board its disctinctive (typically) green color. It is also the layer that the silkscreened notations are printed on, so you know where everything is supposed to go.It's not envyAfter searching high and low for this one, there didn't seem to be one conclusive answer as to why green is the preferred color. One story has it, according to this , that the original masks used a base resin that was a brownish yellow color and a brown hardener that created a sort of ugly honey brown looking board. Adding red made it a rusty adobe color and adding blue just made it a darker brown however adding more yellow to the mix ended up making a more aesthetically pleasing green color.Personally, having seen brados of every color including the not so pleasant brown mentioned above I think there's probably something to that story. Most likely today it's a matter of tradition and cost PCBs have been perceived as green for so long, it's hard to move away from that, and as a result of it being the most popular color the green solder mask is most likely the least expensive color to apply.