Confused about when to treat something as a dialogue tag
Background: I'm helping a friend edit their fiction. I'm frequently left confused on anything related to dialogue tags.
“Yes, but I mean no,” Steve stumbles over his words. “Not the come
home part.”
As far as I can tell, "stumbles over his words" is being treated as a dialogue tag because of the comma in "Yes, but I mean no,". Is that correct?
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A sentence can indicate who is speaking without being attached by a comma.
“Yes, but I mean no.” Steve stumbles over his words. “Not the come home part.”
In this instance, Steve stumbles over his words. is a complete sentence which interrupts the dialogue, which consists of two complete sentences. It's clear who is speaking, so you don't have to add he said or the like. Use a period at the end of the first sentence of dialogue.
You use a comma to attach dialogue to a narrative tag, which may or may not be a complete sentence.
"Yes, but I mean no," says Steve.
He says, "Yes, but I mean no."
"Yes, but I mean no," he stammers.
"Yes, but I mean no," Steve stammers, watching Bucky's face.
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