Dialogue Tags Tell You How to Read

Words like whispered, snapped, and giggled show how a line is spoken.

A dialogue tag is the part that tells who is speaking, such as 'she said' or 'asked Omar'. Strong authors replace 'said' with verbs that also show how the words come out: whispered, snapped, groaned, giggled, called, sighed. Many tags come after the dialogue, so a fluent reader glances ahead to catch them before reading the line. Compare: 'Come here,' whispered Dad. 'Come here,' snapped Dad.

'Come here,' called Dad from the garden. Same words, three different voices: soft and secret, short and annoyed, and loud enough to travel across a yard. Adverbs can help too, as in 'she said softly'. If a tag appears only after a long speech, it's fine to adjust your voice once you find it, or to reread the line with the right feeling.

• 1A dialogue tag tells who is speaking.
• 2Verbs like whispered or snapped show how to say the line.
• 3Glance ahead to find the tag before you read the line.