VS in dialog (correction)

[Mark Mandel]

I agree. When I think of saying it that way it feels like storytelling --
which *is *speech, but it's composed, planned for effect as is the kind of
writing we're talking about here. In a casual note, email or otherwise,
"said" phrase after quotation would seem out of place.

So it's not actually a distinction of medium, written/spoken, but of
casual/planned, or something like that. ISTM; do you agree?

m a m

On Jan 6, 2008 4:03 PM, Mark Sacks <msacks at theworld.com> wrote:

> Oops--error caught in rereading. For some reason I turned "that's" into
> "where's"; I apologize for the mistake. However, my examples, mutatis
> mutandis, still seem appropriate; I don't think an actual person would put
> a "said" phrase at the end of a sentence. In writing, both forms seem
> equally good.
>
> Marc Sacks
> msacks at theworld.com
>
> -------
> >
> >>He notes that both of the following constructions appear in English
> >>literature:
> >>"'That's my car', said the Dutchman."
> >>"'That's my car', the Dutchman said."
> >>but has the impression that the former ("reversed-style") is more
> >>common in older texts, while the latter ("regular-style") is dominant in
> >>more recent works.
> >
> > I have no idea which is/was more common. Both are frequent and
> > ordinary now AFAIK. I just glanced at a few recent novels and I saw
> > plenty of examples of both patterns ... as well as others, e.g.,
> > <<The Dutchman said, "That's my car.">>, <<The Dutchman said: "That's
> > my car.">>.
> >
> > Some authors seem to avoid these formulae [almost] completely,
> > identifying the speaker (when necessary) by means of adjacent
> > material. E.g., <<"That's my car." The Dutchman's voice echoed
> > through the garage.>>, <<The Dutchman finally spoke. "That's my car.">>.
> >
> >>[He's concerned specifically about "X said" vs. "said
> >>X".] He asks, then, the following questions:
> >>
> >>"a) is it strange-sounding or pretentious to use reversed-style dialogue
> >>markers, that is, something frowned upon in modern English? (Read:
> >>Don't do it.)
> >
> > Generally: no.
> >
> > However:
> >
> > (1) "Regular style" is usual with pronouns. <<"That's my car," he
> said.>>
> >
> > (2) "Reversed style" seems more appropriate for a speaker identified
> > by a long expression. <<"That's my car," said a tall blond Dutchman
> > wearing a baseball cap.>>
> >
> >>b) does it carry some sort of archaic feel, which arguably could be used
> >>in my story (that is, my Natives use the reversed form and the
> >>Newcomers the other), or would it just be confusing or seem as a rip-off
> >>of someone already having done exactly that as an
> >>informational/emotional carrier?
> >
> > I believe it carries hardly any systematic feel at all in the
> > original example and ones like it. I suspect most readers of fiction
> > will not notice the difference at all (I surely don't).
> >
> >>c) are there geographical differences related to this practice?
> >
> > I don't know. Usually I don't know or care where a fiction author is
> > located ... or is from.
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
> >
> >
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