: Re: Using colons and semi-colons in dialogue I've often heard writers say they don't like using colons and semi-colons in dialogue specifically. I don't often see colons and semi-colons in dialogue,

@Rivera824

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user11233 is correct in their assessment of the grammar.

You don't see colons or semicolons in dialogue in current fiction because they don't work for stylistic reasons.

Thus, in the things you hate sentence, I would go with an m-dash. It's much cleaner.

Dialogue doesn't have to be grammatically correct either. People talk in incomplete sentences all the time. Punctuation should be used as an indicator of the cadence and rhythms of speech in dialogue; it's for revealing character and progressing action not showing your command of the nuances of the English language.

In other words, dialogue should flow like natural speech. Semicolons and colons are distracting. I can imagine certain instances where either might be appropriate — say you have a character who actually does talk in semicolons. But then you're using them to draw attention to something specific about a character, and I would think you'd want to even note this in the introduction to them: "With wispy hair, dark glasses resting on a sharp nose, and always in a well-tailored suit, he was a punctilious man, the type who used semicolons even in speech."

So, to use user11233's last example, while a semicolon is technically correct, in dialogue, I would use a comma, period, or m-dash. It depends on how the character talks:

"We could crack the safe or pick the safe. You need to decide."

"We could crack the safe or pick the safe, you need to decide."

"We could crack the safe or pick the safe — you need to decide."

"We could crack the safe. Or pick the safe. You need to decide."

I include the last one because it suggests the speaker is taking their time, thinking as they talk. It's the best way to write this — if that's what the character is doing. The story should drive these decisions, but I can see no reason why adding a semicolon to any of the above clarifies anything.

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