For all you grammar experts out there, a little help please.
Can dialogue before a beat legitimately end with a period?
For example:
“All quiet.” she reported. or should it always be, “All quiet,” she reported. The auto-grammar checks online found both these ok, but I'm getting pulled up over on Authonomy. Can anyone clarify?
comma
I was always taught that a period (full stop in UK) is an ending, hence the terms "period" and "full stop" and that following such begins a new sentence with a capital letter. So I would go for the second example which uses a comma.
I think you may be right, Adrian.
I usually do use the comma, but I have to my surprise used a period quite a lot in my book in this kind of scenario, incorrectly it would seem, but some as in this example I'm not sure about.
Here, I think the period adds a sort of firmness to her voice, not so strong as an exclamation, but with a finality that one dare not question.
Still, it's a mute point and looking at it now, it doesn't look quite right. Oh well. 24 chapters to go through, yet again.