I have to write a personal statement and I have a very unintelligent question.
I'm trying to start off my statement with this "anecdote-ish" type thing.
Is the below paragraph formated properly:
Rawr! "There are monsters in my closet!" I screamed. And as I walked over to the closet and checked there was...nothing.
I'm asking this because there are quite a few rules of dialouge that can be confusing.
I like this. What is it that you find confusing?
It's confusing because I don't know whether to separate the interjection "Rawr" from what I am saying. Also, I'd like to know if it is grammatically correct to put extra information ('And as I walked over to the closet and checked there was...nothing.') behind a quote.
Who/What is saying "Rawr"?
Technically, the ellipsis (...) is used to indicate that there are missing words, but you are using it to emphasize the word "nothing" after it, and to imitate speech if someone were to read/say this aloud, right? The only change I'd make is to put a space before and a space after the ellipsis.
When you're setting up something like this at the beginning of an essay, just about all teachers I know would give you license for this section -- as long as the rest of your paper is correct in grammar and usage.
Thank you!
You're welcome! Go get an A!!
Don't worry, I'm here to help! The paragraph you provided seems to be a mix of narrative description and dialogue. When formatting dialogue in writing, it is important to follow certain rules.
To properly format the paragraph, consider the following adjustments:
1. Use quotation marks (") to indicate the spoken words or dialogue.
2. Begin a new line for each new speaker.
3. Use a dialogue tag (e.g., he said, she whispered) to attribute dialogue to a specific character.
Here's an example of the corrected formatting:
Rawr! "There are monsters in my closet!" I screamed.
And as I walked over to the closet and checked, there was...nothing.
Make sure to also punctuate the dialogue correctly. Use an exclamation mark (!) inside the closing quotation mark if the spoken words are exclaimed. Use a comma (,) or a period (.) if the words are not exclaimed.
In terms of your personal statement, using an anecdote-like introduction can be a great way to grab the reader's attention. It helps to create a vivid and engaging opening. Just make sure that the anecdote you choose is relevant and ties back to the theme or message you want to convey in your personal statement.