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Topic : Re: Attributives in dialogue I normally stick with "he said" and "she said" to keep things simple and transparent to the reader but wondering about questions. Is "she asked" and "he asked" appropriate - selfpublishingguru.com

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"He said" and "she said" are definitely fine when used with questions as well as statements and exclamations. When used with expressive dialog that speaks for itself the attributive may even be unnecessary, especially if there is other action text which makes it clear who is speaking. When the attributive is necessary or useful with expressive dialog, it tends to disappear, which I as a reader view as a good thing.

I think the occasional use of "he asked" and "she asked" is still fairly transparent, but it would be easiest to tell in a snippet for critique. More expressive language such as "she mumbled" or "he grunted" should be used with an intent to call attention to itself, because those attributives will make themselves obvious and catch the reader's focus.


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