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Is it correct to list the following examples using quotation marks and a simple space? Or would the example below need a comma in-between?

For example, you might choose to say: "Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment." "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you." "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting."

Is this correct or should there be commas in-between each quoted sentence? Is there any better way of constructing this sentence, or is this fine?

Also ... would I use a double space between each quoted sentence, or just a single space? (I am habituated to using a double space after a period: it is cleaner to read.)

I'd love your help!

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    You probably want to separate them with semi-colons as it is a list of complete sentences. Also, never use two spaces in a row. If you don't believe me that two spaces are unnecessary, read virtually any website. Your browser is automatically compressing every run of spaces into a single space. Even your post, presumably containing numerous double-spaces, is rendered with only single-spaces.
    – Ian MacDonald
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 5:37
  • So it would look something like this? -> For example, you might choose to say: "Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment."; "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you."; "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting." Strange, I was taught that double spacing is the way to go. I also read many books that seem to use double spacing.
    – user112771
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 5:44
  • Do not terminate individual example sentences with a period, use a semicolon instead. That will serve to both conclude the quoted sentences and splice the overall sentence. HTH.
    – Kris
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 7:30
  • Thanks Kris ... so would that then sound like "'Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment"; "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you"; "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting.'"?
    – user112771
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 7:50
  • 1
    So is this correct Edwin? -> "'Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment"; "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you"; "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting.'"
    – user112771
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 8:54

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I think that you don't need to tie the example sentences together with semicolons if you clearly present them as freestanding alternatives at the outset. The key to doing that successfully is to note explicitly in the lead-in that the quoted sentences are alternative wordings, not a dialogue or a series of things to say consecutively. Here is one approach:

For example, you might offer one of the following responses: "Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment." "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you." "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting."

Alternatively, if you feel strongly that the absence of transitions between examples is an aesthetic problem, you could add conjunctions between them:

For example, you might choose to say, "Thanks for asking, but I'm a bit busy at the moment." Or, "I'd love to help you, just give me a few minutes and I will be there to help you." Or, "I'll be there with you soon, thank you for waiting."

Both of these ways of handling the examples avoid what to me looks like either overpunctuation at the end of each example or an excessively long super-sentence comprising all three examples; and they do so without simply springing the series of examples on the reader unexplained.

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