DIALOGUE COMPLITION
Class 11 PCMB English Grammar
DIALOGUE COMPLITION
Dialogue Writing: Dialogue is basically a conversation between two or more people. In fiction, it is a verbal conversation between two or more conversations. Sometimes it is a self-talking dialogue, they are known as a Monolog.
If the dialogue is bad the reader will put the book down. Without effective dialogues, the whole plot of the story will collapse on its own structure. Therefore, writing dialogue in a way that attracts the reader to be more involved in the story is not a daunting task. We will guide you to write impactful dialogue with correct rules.
The aim of the dialogue writing is to enable the students to elaborate upon the given inputs in a grammatical correct and meaningful conversation.
Dialogue writing needs lot of imaginative ideas and creativity. Well written dialogue leads to the advancement of the story and helps in fleshing out the characters while providing a break from straight exposition or explanation.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Punctuation
- Tense
- Subject-verb agreement
- Sentence type-declarative or interrogative
- Imperatives
- Contractions
1. Punctuation:
The most common punctuation marks in English are: capital letters and full stops, question marks, commas, colons and semi-colons, exclamation marks and quotation marks.
In speaking, we use pauses and the pitch of the voice to make what we say clear. Punctuation plays a similar role in writing, making it easier to read.
Punctuation consists of both rules and conventions. There are rules of punctuation that have to be followed; but there are also punctuation conventions that give writers greater choice.
Example:
- Apostrophe
- Colon
- Comma
- Dash
- Ellipsis
- Exclamation Point
- Hyphen
- Parentheses
- Period
- Question Mark
- Quotation Marks
- Semicolon
- Slash
2. Tense:
Tense communicates an event’s location in time. The different tenses are identified by their associated verb forms. There are three main tenses: past, present, and future. In English, each of these tenses can take four main aspects: simple, perfect, continuous (also known as progressive), and perfect continuous.
3. Subject-verb agreement:
Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in NUMBER. Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
4. Sentence type-declarative or interrogative:
A sentence that tells something is a declarative sentence. A declarative sentence ends with a period. A sentence that asks a question is an interrogative sentence. An interrogative sentence ends with a question mark.
5. Imperatives:
The sentence which is used to convey a command, a request, or a forbiddance is called an imperative sentence. This type of sentence always takes the second person (you) for the subject but most of the time the subject remains hidden.
Examples: Bring me a glass of water. Don’t ever touch my phone.
6. Contractions:
A contraction is a shortened form of a word (or group of words) that omits certain letters or sounds. In most contractions, an apostrophe represents the missing letters. The most common contractions are made up of verbs, auxiliaries, or modals attached to other words:
He would = He’d. I have = I’ve. They are = They’re.
Contractions are common in speech—so common that we don’t always take the time to pronounce them precisely, which leads to a particular contraction mistake writers might make if they’re not paying attention. In speech, we often pronounce could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve in a way that sounds identical to “could of,” “should of,” and “would of.” But you should never write could of, should of, or would of. Remember, could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve are contractions that mean could have, should have, and would have.
Sample
- From the options, choose the form that best fits the function state, to complete the dialogue below.
Ricky: Why did you give money to that beggar?
Nicky: (1) ________________ I can’t walk away, ignoring him.
Ricky: You are just encouraging him to be lazy. It is a bad habit.
Nicky: He looks old and sick.
Ricky: (2) _____________ but there are organizations to help people like him.
Nicky: And what are they doing to help him?
Ricky: All right (3) ________________.
Options:
- Why shouldn’t I? / He’s always there / I dislike beggars / I feel sorry for him
- All right / Yes, he does / I believe you, / You may be right
- Let’s go / Forget it / Do what you like / Let’s not argue about it.
Answer:
- I feel sorry for him
- You may be right
- Let’s not argue about it.
- From the options, choose the form that best fits the function state to complete the dialogue below.
Wife: If you don’t hurry, we’ll be late for the show.
Husband: There’s a plenty of time. (1) ____________.
Wife: Plenty of time? The show starts in twenty minutes.
Husband: It takes only ten minutes to get there. We can leave now.
Wife: (2) __________.
Husband: (3) ____________ It’s bad for health to be so anxious about everything.
Options:
- Why are you in a hurry? / It’s only six o’clock / I won’t take long / You are always so impatient
- Good / That’s better / Thank God for that! / It’s about time!
- Slow down / Don’t worry / You must be patient / You need to relax a bit more
Answer:
- It’s only six o’clock
- Thank God for that!
- You must be patient
- From the options, choose the form that best fits the function state to complete the dialogue below.
Rita: Hello, Sita Did you have a good trip?
Sita: It was not too bad. In fact, I managed to sleep a bit. (1) ______________.
Rita: Is that all your luggage?
Vicky: Yes. Wait a minute. The small hold all is missing. (2) _____________ I must have left it at the duty-free shop.
Rita: (3) _________ We can ask the security guard to get it. Which shop was it?
Options:
- It was so quiet / The passengers slept / The seat was really comfortable / It has made me feel rested.
- Oh dear! / What a nuisance! / Where could it be? / I remember now.
- Don’t cry / Don’t worry / Are you sure? / We’ll look for it.
Answer:
- The seat was really comfortable.
- What a nuisance!
- Don’t worry
- From the options, choose the form that best fits the function state to complete the dialogue below.
Amy: Mother, I have something to tell you.
Mother: What is it? Amy: (1) ____________.
Mother: How did it happen?
Amy: I was dusting the shelf and knocked it over.
Mother: (2) ___________ That’s the second vase you have broken. I’m going to deduct some money from your allowance each week.
Amy: (3) __________ It was just an accident.
Mother: It’ll teach you to be more careful.
Options:
- I didn’t finish the dusting / You won’t believe what I’ve done / Promise me you won’t get angry / I have broken your favourite vase.
- Not Again! / How could you? / You are really careless / Don’t go into my room again
- Oh no! / That’s not fair / I’ll complain to Father / I don’t have enough pocket money
Answer:
- I have broken your favourite vase.
- You are really careless
- That’s not fair