Year 2 English Writing

Dialogue Writing

Dialogue is the conversation between characters in a story. Learning to write it correctly brings your characters to life!

What is dialogue?

Dialogue is the words that characters say to each other in a story. When we write dialogue, we use speech marks (" ") to show the exact words spoken.

Key rules

Speech marks go around the spoken words.
Start with a capital letter.
Punctuation goes inside the closing marks.
New speaker = new line.
Use a reporting verb (said, asked, shouted).

Example dialogue

"Can I come too?" asked Leo.

"Of course!" replied Ava. "The more the merrier."

"Brilliant," said Leo, grinning.

Said is dead!

Good writers use varied reporting verbs instead of always saying "said":

whispered, shouted, replied, cried, exclaimed, murmured, gasped, laughed

Key Vocabulary

dialogue — a conversation between two or more characters in a story

speech marks — punctuation (" ") placed around the exact words spoken

reporting verb — the verb that introduces speech (said, asked, whispered)

direct speech — the exact words spoken by a character, in speech marks

Analyse the Dialogue

"I think there's something in the shed," whispered Kai.
"Don't be silly," replied Zoe. "It's probably just the wind."
"Then what was that scratching noise?" hissed Kai.

Green = speech marks (show where spoken words start and end)
Blue = reporting verbs (whispered, replied, hissed — varied!)
Each new speaker starts on a new line.

Lesson Summary

✓Dialogue is the conversation between characters. Use speech marks (" ") around the spoken words.
✓Capital letter at the start of speech; punctuation inside the closing speech mark.
✓New speaker = new line.
✓Use varied reporting verbs (whispered, shouted, exclaimed) to show how a character speaks.