Said vs asked, after a question in a line of dialogue

[John Carlo]

Quick question. Is there a style preference or standard in dialogue when asking a question to follow it by she said vs she asked? For ex:

"Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" he said.

or

"Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" he asked.

[AntisocialMoose]

I feel it is 100% stylistic.

[Jowettc]

In a quick straw poll of books near my computer:

If you are tagging after a question use asked, e.g. "Did she go to the restaurant or not?" he asked.

If you are stating it anywhere else don't e.g. He looked up from his half empty beer glass and said, "Did she go to the restaurant or not?"

or omit completely if possible e.g. "Did she go to the restaurant or not?"

[mammamaia]

i agree it's best to word it so you can do without a tag... but if one is needed, 'asked' makes better sense after a question than 'said'...

however, if the line of dialog consists of one or more statements, ending with a question, then 'said' might be best... so:

"Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" he asked.

and

"I don't know what she did. No one told me. Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" he said.

[AmsterdamAssassin]

Why not replace the speech tag with an action tag?

[mammamaia]

such as what?

[superpsycho]

Personally I think it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't become repetitious. The object is to identify the speaker.

With concern on his face "Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" or "Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" as he turned to leave.

[Jhunter]

I would use "he said." Using "he asked" is redundant to me.

[Tesoro]

^to me too. The "?" after the sentence already reveals someone is asking.

[digitig]

Why not replace the speech tag with an action tag?

Why replace the speech tag with an action tag?

[digitig]

Personally I think it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't become repetitious. The object is to identify the speaker.

With concern on his face "Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" or "Did she go to the restaurant, or not?" as he turned to leave.

Each of those still needs a "he said" or " he asked", unless you're going for very unusual stylised prose.

[Daniel_Allan]

Identify the speaker. Simple. If the two characters are exchanging many sentences, no need to tag them after a few exchanges (well, perhaps throw a tag in every now and then to keep people up to speed). If the characters are properly fleshed out, they'll have a particular way of talking (people do) and that should help identify the speaker.

Good at this: "Lian Hearn" author of "Across the nightingale floor".

[Lightman]

Why not replace the speech tag with an action tag?

"Did she got to the restaurant?" she sneezed vociferously.

[Cogito]

By action tag, I presume you mean a beat. A beat is a separate sentence adjacent to dialogue describing an action taken by the speaker at arounds the same time as the speech. A dialogue tag is affixed to the dialogue and expressly indicates who is speaking.

Both are useful dialogue tools to have in your repertoire. So is knowing when neither is necessary because it is already clear who is speaking and what else is taking place at the time.

The decision among the three options is not made on one dialogue fragment inj isolation, but in the context of the entire scene.

Lightman: Your character is very talented indeed if she can sneeze a sentence. If that is meant to be a beat, She must be capitalized.

[digitig]

I would use "he said." Using "he asked" is redundant to me.

"He said" and "he asked" read differently to me, so "he asked" can't be redundant. If you were reading the following two sentences out loud, would you use the same intonation for the quoted part?
1. "How do you do?" he asked.
2. "How do you do?" he said.

[digitig]

Lightman: Your character is very talented indeed if she can sneeze a sentence. If that is meant to be a beat, She must be capitalized.

She is clearly speaking in the sneezing language of el Kalatir. It developed in the pepper plantations there, where more conventional speech is impossible. Presumably that was explained elsewhere in Lightman's text.

[Lightman]

By action tag, I presume you mean a beat. A beat is a separate sentence adjacent to dialogue describing an action taken by the speaker at arounds the same time as the speech. A dialogue tag is affixed to the dialogue and expressly indicates who is speaking.

Both are useful dialogue tools to have in your repertoire. So is knowing when neither is necessary because it is already clear who is speaking and what else is taking place at the time.

The decision among the three options is not made on one dialogue fragment inj isolation, but in the context of the entire scene.

Lightman: Your character is very talented indeed if she can sneeze a sentence. If that is meant to be a beat, She must be capitalized.

Cogito, it was meant as parody of bad dialogue tags.

[digitig]

Identify the speaker. Simple. If the two characters are exchanging many sentences, no need to tag them after a few exchanges (well, perhaps throw a tag in every now and then to keep people up to speed). If the characters are properly fleshed out, they'll have a particular way of talking (people do) and that should help identify the speaker.

Good at this: "Lian Hearn" author of "Across the nightingale floor".

Have you read any of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books? Much of the action takes place inside books, but behind the scenes in the parts that readers don't get to see. One consequence is that if there aren't enough dialogue tags even the characters themselves can't tell who is speaking:

"Wait! Which one of us said that?"

"I don't know. I thought it sounded like the sort of thing you'd say."

"Really? I thought it sounded like you."

And so on. Very silly. And very funny.

[Cogito]

Cogito, it was meant as parody of bad dialogue tags.

Whew. It would be funnier if I didn't see that kind of dialogue writing all the time...

[Jhunter]

"He said" and "he asked" read differently to me, so "he asked" can't be redundant. If you were reading the following two sentences out loud, would you use the same intonation for the quoted part?
1. "How do you do?" he asked.
2. "How do you do?" he said.

I was not saying "he asked" is wrong. I was saying what I would personally use. Both of these examples get the same job done. I just prefer "he said" for the same reason I mentioned above. It is redundant to me. Also, I like having uniform tags as much as possible.