Dialogue Writing

Speaking and Dialogue Writing at Intermediate Level

How would our life be if we didn’t communicate using words to get the desired task done? There are many things we have to learn before we started the interpersonal functions (Verbal Communication to perform certain tasks) like sounds, pronunciation, stress, intonation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. Learning these language chunks alone is but the beginning stage to preparing oneself for meaningful communication in everyday life. The most important step of these all is to put oneself in the active role of communicating one’s ideas to the listeners. In a nutshell, as long as you don’t start to perform, and listen and copy the professionals perform, all your dreams of being a good communicator or presenter remain still farther.

I have tried to assemble as many ideas and tips as can be to help you in this regard and hopefully you certainly find them instrumental.

Most Common Functions of Language

A.      Daily Functions
Points to remember before you write a dialogue script for a certain situation task/function.

1.        Greetings

2.        Introductions

3.        Making Offers

4.        Expressing Gratitude/Thanking

5.        Making Requests

6.        Making an Apology

7.        Asking for Permission

8.        Wishing, Blessing and Complementing

9.        Giving Instruction and Direction

10.     Making Prediction Projections and Possibilities

11.     Expressing Happiness and Sadness

12.     Expressing Likes and Dislikes

13.     Expressing Regrets and Sorry

14.     Agreeing and Disagreeing

15.     Expressing Surprise and Dismay

16.     Expressing Shock and Disgust

17.     Expressing Indignation and Anger

18.     Giving Opinions and Comments

19.     Making Promises and Assurances

20.     Giving Advice and Warning

21.     Making Recommendations

22.     Expressing Conditions and Hypothesis

23.     Giving Reasons and Purposes

24.     Expressing Sympathy and Solidarity

25.     Expressing Ability and Inability, etc

Basic tips to proceed with your dialogue at the school level for examination purpose:

1.State the situation and introduce the characters in the form of a short narration before you begin the dialogue.

2. Have a minimum of six exchanges from the examination point of view.

3. Make use of contraction ‘won’t, doesn’t, haven’t, didn’t, aren’t isn’t’, etc. not the full words like ‘will not, does not, have not, did not, are not, is not’, etc.

4. Write the dialogue the way you speak in person, over the phone or face to face.

5. Write very short sentences as it is not a speech or a one-way presentation; it is a conversation where all the speakers are speaking one after another for a very short while.

6. Keep your text in a box

7. Write all the dialogue exchanges in alternate lines.

8. You are allowed to use colloquial diction and shortened forms of words like ‘coz for because,  c’mon for come on, yah/yep for yes along with other pause fillers or hesitation devices like hmm…, uh…, umm...,  shh…, yuck…, ah…, etc.

9. Make use of the nicknames of the characters instead of the formal full names like Liza for Elizabeth, Kate for Katherine, Willy for William, etc.

10. Make use of a lot of punctuation marks as and when necessary to create a lifelike effect.

   

 The End