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Published:
2020-12-28
Updated:
2020-12-28
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2/?
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Punctuation and Quotation Marks

Summary:

“I’m really not sure how to properly use punctuation with quotations,” John said.

Susan smiled. John had come to the right place.

Notes:

This is based on a post I made on Reddit some people found helpful.

Thanks to u/shivering_shadows who made the first post that inspired me to write the rest.

I'm just a grammar friend, not an expert, so if you disagree with any of my statements please let me know!

Chapter 1: The Basics

Chapter Text

“I’m really not sure how to properly use punctuation with quotations,” John said.

Susan smiled. John had come to the right place.

“Well, here are some basics. First, punctuation marks should go inside the quotation mark,” his friend replied.

“Even question marks?” he asked.

“Yes, even question marks and periods. And even exclamation points!” she replied.

“I think I’m supposed to end sentences with periods, though,” he said.

“No, when you are continuing with a dialogue tag, you should end with a comma even if the sentence quoted is complete,” she said.

John asked, "What about when you put the dialogue tags first? Do you still add commas?"

She replied, "Yes, add a comma before the quote. Remember to capitalize the beginning of the quote if the speaker is beginning a sentence."

"Should I capitalize after the quote, then?" he asked.

"No," Susan replied. "Unless it would be capitalized in the middle of a sentence anyway, such as a proper name."

He looked at her quizzically. "Wait, I thought you always used a comma before a quote?"

"Only if it was a dialogue tag. Not if the previous sentence was a full sentence itself."

"Do I have to have dialogue tags for everything?" He was confused now.

"No, if it's clear who's speaking, feel free to leave them out."

He sat and thought about all the rules she'd told him. He wasn't sure he understood it all. "Okay, so if you start a new paragraph when someone new is speaking," he asked, "do you need to start a new paragraph every time a quotation mark comes? And what about breaks in the middle of a quote?"

She smiled. "You don't need to overthink it. Even if your grammar isn't perfect," she assured him, "people will still understand and enjoy your story."

Chapter 2: Quotes within quotes!

Chapter Text

The next day, he returned with more questions. “Okay, I think I have the basics down,” he stated. “But what can you teach me about more complicated situations?”

“Hmm…” Susan thought. “Well, one thing is that an ellipsis is different from a period, so you don’t need a comma. Some people add one if the ellipsis is at the end of a sentence, but others find it awkward, so it’s a stylistic choice.

“Another thing to know is that when the same speaker begins a new paragraph, you end the previous paragraph without a closing quotation mark and begin the new one with an opening quotation mark. That lets the reader know the same person is speaking.”

“Oh, so you can have long quotations without a giant wall of text,” he said. “That is much easier to read.”

She nodded.  John continued, “If someone besides the speaker performs an action, do you need to have that action in a separate paragraph?”

“No, it’s okay to have two people acting in the same paragraph.  Just don’t put two people speaking, or it will get confusing,” Susan replied.

“What about if someone is using quotes inside a quote? Like, if I wanted to repeat a famous line like ‘Ask not what you can do for your country’ then what do I do?”

Susan replied, “You would use single quotes to indicate that, and capitalize since your quote begins a sentence. Who will you be asking ‘what you can do for your country’?”

John’s eyes widened at her sentence. “Didn’t you just break a ton of your own rules? You didn’t capitalize, and you didn’t put punctuation inside the quotations!”

Susan sighed. “Yes, things can get complicated. Since my quote started in the middle of the sentence, I didn’t need to capitalize it. And the quote itself wasn’t a question, so the question mark wasn’t actually part of the quote. It was part of my own dialogue, so it went outside the single quotation marks, but inside my own double quotation marks.”

John thought for a moment. “I think I get it. So if I were quoting St. Thomas Becket’s famous line ‘Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?’ I would put the question mark inside the quotes.” Susan nodded.  “But what should I do if the quotation is at the end of my own dialogue? Like, say I want to quote your line, ‘Yes, things can get complicated,’” John stated. “Did I do that right?”

“Perfect!” she said.

He smirked. “And what about if I wanted to quote your ‘Perfect!’?”

Susan beamed with pride. “You did that just right. You can absolutely mix punctuation marks. I’m really excited that you’ve figured out the answer to your own question ‘Did I do that right?’!”

John smiled with excitement. “It's like you just follow the basic rules, but then swap out the double quotations for single quotes. With a few little tweaks sometimes. I think I’ve got these ‘rules of quotations’ down pretty well.”

"You really have," she said. "There's only one other thing I want to let you know about quotes, and that's if you are going to be repeating a really long quotation. In that case, here is what you do, according to the APA style manual:

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

In a Rich Text Editor like you find on AO3, you can do this by using the button that looks like a quotation mark. There are some minor variations with other style types, but they are all pretty similar."

"You know," he said, "These rules aren't all that difficult, after all."

“Yes,” she said. “Next time, let’s chat more about dialogue tags.”