I finally figured a logical way to an end for a tale I have been working on for over a year. (I seem to always have a half dozen projects going at once.) My mind is going a dozen different directions at once right now and I am drawing a blank on how to punctuate one sentence. How do I punctuate the following sentence? "May I help you,” he asked? I could reword the question but it seems to sound better this way.
When adding dialogue tags, periods become commas, exclamation points and question marks stay the same. "May I help you?" he asked. ~ J. J.
Remember to keep your exclamation and question marks in the dialogue itself when they apply to the character doing the speaking. JJ_Maxx has it right: "May I help you?" he asked. as against: "May I help you," he asked? Which actually doesn't make any logical sense. The question and exclamation marks always override any comma or full stop at the end of dialogue in such a situation.
Thanks again. I looked back a few pages in the tale and found a similar situation that was punctuated correctly. Sometimes I draw a blank.
