"shape the dialogue" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to suggest that people in a certain situation should talk more openly and clearly to each other so that they can better understand one another. For example, "Let's take a break and then come back to this issue so that we can shape the dialogue and reach a conclusion."
By bringing a pointed critic into its midst, Unilever ensured that it could shape the dialogue, rather than merely react to it.
The language barrier forced Mr. Meehan and Ms. Ahrens to depend on translators to shape the dialogue and lyrics, and in doing so, rein in their own tendencies as incorrigible perfectionists.
The show's librettist, Abe Burrows, always acknowledged that Kaufman helped shape the dialogue: he was, after all, one of the great playwrights of the American theater, and frequently sharpened the scripts he directed.
That split in the response to the White House, however, reflected a larger conflict: while Black Lives Matter's insistent outsider status has allowed it to shape the dialogue surrounding race and criminal justice in this country, it has also sparked a debate about the limits of protest, particularly of online activism.
"He's creating the space in the public sphere to really shape the dialogue on climate change being not just about science, but about morality, about faith".
The big picture does matter; relationships with Israel for Egypt and the same for Burma with China hinder and shape the dialogue for real reform.
"We had long conversations before shooting started," he said, and those discussions shaped the dialogue in the scenes he shot.
Monday's debate is important, Ms. Stewart said, because of the role that Tea Party members "have played in shaping the dialogue on the role of government in the lives of Americans".
Most working groups "have not come to the so-called nitty-gritty," said Abdul Karim al-Iryani, a former prime minister and one of the men who shaped the dialogue.
Mr. Columbus, who started as a screenwriter ("Young Sherlock Holmes," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Gremlins") said he did a great deal of rewriting of "Stepmom". But he said the writing became unusually collaborative, with the main actors all contributing enormously to shaping the dialogue in some important scenes.
If you're confused, it is no doubt in part because of how Blum, Fisher and others have shaped the dialogue as the case worked its way to the country's top court.
