In quotations such as
"I'm hungry," he said, "I want to eat dinner."
Do you end the word said with a comma or period?
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Sign up to join this communityIn quotations such as
"I'm hungry," he said, "I want to eat dinner."
Do you end the word said with a comma or period?
A period, as the following word starts a new sentence.
"I'm hungry," he said.
This is one sentence, containing a full quoted sentence inside the quotes (I'm hungry).
"I want to eat dinner."
This is another sentence. It also contains a full quoted sentence inside the quotes. It is understood from the previous sentence that "he" is still talking, and has started another sentence. That means a period needs to go before this sentence.
It only makes sense to use a comma after "said" if the person you're quoting is continuing a sentence. Here's an example of what that could look like:
"I'm hungry," he said, "but I'm not ready to eat yet."
Here, "but I'm not ready to eat yet." is not a complete sentence. It can't stand on its own, so it needs a comma before it to indicate it continues the previous quoted sentence.
If you want to indicate that the speaker said two thoughts quickly, as one sentence, you should rewrite the quotation so that the pause before "he said" is at the end:
"I'm hungry; I want to eat dinner," he said.
The interrupting statement is generally followed by a comma, but if you want to indicate that he spoke two sentences, you would put a period after said.
"I'm hungry; I want to eat dinner," is a subtle variation of "I'm hungry. I want to eat dinner."
Some have suggested "Well then, you should use a semicolon to close the first quote!"
My response is, "Feel free!" The way I see it, the standard comma closes the quote, and the interrupting statement does the work of a semi-colon. The rules of punctuation are not meant to dictate every subtle variation of communication we face in the real world, but the two-fold general rule is quite simple. Pick the one that fits what you are saying.