📖 ReadingGrade 2Lesson 27
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Read Dialogue with Character Voices
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Learning Objectives
- 1Identify dialogue in a story using quotation marks
- 2Use said-tag clue words like whispered and shouted to shape the voice
- 3Read each character's words with a distinct voice
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Mini Lesson
When characters talk in a story, those words are called dialogue. Reading dialogue well is like performing a play — each character should sound a little different from the others.
What is dialogue?
- Dialogue is the spoken words of a character in a story.
- Dialogue is always surrounded by quotation marks — the curly marks that look like little 66 and 99: " ... "
- Only the words actually spoken go inside the quotation marks.
- Example: "I found the key!" said Mia. — "I found the key!" is the dialogue.
Said tags — your voice clues
- The word after the dialogue — said, asked, whispered, shouted, laughed, groaned — is called a said tag. It tells you exactly how to use your voice.
- whispered → very quiet, soft, secretive
- shouted / yelled → loud, urgent, energetic
- laughed / giggled → light, warm, playful
- groaned / muttered → low, tired, grumpy
- asked → rising tone at the end (it is a question)
How to read dialogue aloud
- Find the quotation marks. Everything inside is what the character says.
- Read the said tag outside the quotes. It tells you how to say it.
- Give each character a slightly different voice — not a full accent, just a small difference in pitch, speed, or energy.
- Read the narrator's words (outside the quotes) in your normal reading voice.
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Ask yourself: "Who is speaking? What does the said tag tell me about their voice? How is this character different from the last one who spoke?"
Vocabulary
Dialogue
The spoken words of a character in a story — always inside quotation marks.e.g. "I found the key!" said Mia.
Quotation marks
The curly marks that show where a character's spoken words begin and end.e.g. The " ... " around "I found the key!"
Said tag
The word next to the dialogue (said, asked, whispered, shouted) that tells you how it was said.e.g. In "said Mia," the word said is the said tag.
Narrator
The voice that tells the story in between the dialogue — read in a calm, steady voice.e.g. She stood up slowly and walked to the shed.
Character voice
A slightly different tone, speed, or pitch used for each character so the listener can tell them apart.e.g. Finn reads a little slower; Rosa reads a little faster.
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