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Is there a rule for whether to write this, for example:
"Hello, my friend," Dave said.
or this:
"Hello, my friend," said Dave.
Or is it just down to personal preference?
For a pronoun I'd always write it this way:
"Hello, my friend," he said.
Comments
If in doubt, read it aloud.
"I didn't mean to say that," Dave said, backing himself into a corner.
"I didn't mean to say that," said Dave, backing himself into a corner.
Does the second have slightly more humour? Depends on the context, I suppose.
You can avoid a lot of he said/she said with tighter, better writing. Variation is a good thing. Monotony aint.
A speech tag isn't always needed. For example if just two people are talking you don't need a 'he said' or 'she said' after every piece of dialogue as it will be obvious who is talking, but if it's not clear it's better to use tags than to confuse the reader.
Absolutely. Most speech tags are not required. Hence why you should think about your writing more closely, and devise ways of making it better and more concise.
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Got to be that old song, about 'Simple Simon Said'. If it isn't, then I haven't the faintest idea...:)
Lord of the Dance?
My logic is that "said" is a verb, and you wouldn't put a verb in front of its subject (well, not in 99% of cases).
Across the road, walked Dave.
Murder, wrote she.
"Enough examples, already!" protested they.