Tagged Questions

3
votes
3answers
166 views

Breaking comma rules to emphasize a pause in a character quote or elsewhere

My wife is writing a book, and just got a draft back from an editor. The editor noted extra commas in numerous sentences like this: He looked at her closely, but all she said was, "I am truly ...
3
votes
2answers
282 views

Punctuation with block-quotes

How do I properly place a comma after a big block-quote? Let's say I have a sentence like this: The author states: < a big quote goes here. >, therefore... Since my sentence continues after ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views

“What happens to the comma after an inquiring/exclaiming quotation?”, he wondered, as he posted to StackExchange [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How should I punctuate around quotes? Forgive me for the creative title, because I'm not sure how else to ask this. If you have a sentence like this... "What's ...
8
votes
2answers
891 views

Comma placement when using quotes that end with a question mark [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How should I punctuate around quotes? I've been writing a letter to an editor, and one line of my response reads: In your article "What Makes Free Will Free?" you ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views

If you're using a quote with a period but do not want to end the sentence, do you keep the period?

For example. If I want to quote a passage from a writing, that says The cake is not a lie. and my sentence is: The book by author states that "The cake is not a lie." however studies show ...
2
votes
1answer
172 views

Should there be a comma in “The heading reads, 'a chart heading.'”?

I have a sentence along the lines of The heading reads, "a chart heading." The comma seems a bit awkward to me, but I cannot seem to find any explicit guidance in the Chicago Manual of Style on ...
1
vote
2answers
465 views

Usage of comma before quotes [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Does a comma have to be used before a quotation? Please let me know which of the two examples below are correct: Example a: And he said "where are my chips?" Example ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views

Does a comma have to be used before a quotation?

If before the quote the word "saying" or "said" is used, does a comma always have to be used before it? When does a comma not have to be used?