Punctuation
While the choice of words and sentences used in dialogue is important, punctuation can often show how people speak.
This is as important as what they say.
Mary鈥檚 hesitant speech, for example, reveals her growing awareness that Bentham never viewed her as a social equal, 鈥淚 imagine ... he thought ... we weren鈥檛 ... good enough for him鈥.
O鈥機asey suggests through the use of ellipsis that she is only now realising this, we also feel her weariness and hopelessness about the situation.
O鈥機asey also uses ellipsis to great effect in the final scene of the play where the disintegration of the Boyle family, and Captain Boyle鈥檚 inability to cope with reality, is conveyed by his drunken speech.
He and Joxer鈥檚 inarticulate musings are broken up by more ellipsis as the conversation progresses, highlighting this breakdown and their increasing drunkenness. The scene culminates in Boyle's observation - repeated frequently in the play - that 鈥渢h鈥 whole worl鈥檚 鈥 in a terr 鈥 ible state o鈥 鈥 chassis!鈥.