The most common issue that I have seen in the stories published on this site is one of punctuation; every time I edit a story, at least half of the changes made are to the punctuation of the story. To help some authors, and to act as a resource that I can point others to, I think that I might make a series of “how to” articles about grammar and punctuation. To kick things off, we will cover the most widespread problem: quotation marks and other punctuation around them.

Quotation marks have several uses, but their most common use is to punctuate speech, thoughts, or quotes. The tenth rule on this list quickly summarizes some of the other uses that quotation marks have, though most of those uses are less likely to be used in a fictional narrative. I focussed on covering all of the ways that dialogue can be presented in a story. You are unlikely to ever use rule number nine, but I included it for completeness.

British and American English differ in how they treat quotation marks, perhaps more so here than in any other area of punctuation. I will talk primarily about the American English rules in this article, though I will mention where British punctuation differs. And keep in mind that one of my main reference books that I use when editing, the Oxford Style Manual, is of British origin and so outlines the British rules (though I also use Webster’s Punctuation Guide, which is undeniably American).

Rules after the break!

The Egghead’s Guide to Punctuating Dialogue, Thoughts, and Quotes
1) Quoted material goes in the quotation marks.

“Why do I do these things to myself?”

“This first rule is really pretty self-explanatory.”

2) Treat the quoted material as its own sentence, complete with capitalization and ending punctuation.

“Are you insane?” shouted Twilight.

Twilight shouted, “Are you insane?”

Notice that the part within the quotation marks begins with a capital letter, and ends in terminal punctuation (a question mark) whether it’s at the actual end of the sentence or not. Also, since it’s just part of a larger sentence, “shouted” is not capitalized, as it isn’t actually at the beginning of a sentence in either example.

3) Introduce quoted material with a comma or colon if part of a larger sentence.

Twilight looked at her and said, “Are you okay?”

Twilight looked around, cleared her throat, and uttered the following: “Pi is equal to exactly three.”

This is one of the most common errors that I find. You should almost always introduce quoted material with a comma in front of it (exceptions are explained below). In this case the comma is acting like a colon—it’s introducing something—so of course a colon can be used as well. However, the colon is a bit more formal, so its use should probably be restricted to more formal occasions.

4) If the quoted material would end in a period, but the sentence continues after the quote, replace it with a comma.

“Oh, hello there,” said Twilight.

Twilight said, “Oh, hello there.”

You can see that the quoted material (“Oh, hello there.”) would end in a period if left by itself. But, in the first example, the sentence continues on after where the period would go; you cannot have a period in the middle of a sentence (ignoring the period in my parenthesis earlier), so you replace it with a comma.

5) A quote within a quote gets single quotation marks. If you have a third nested quote, it gets double quotation marks. British usage also differs here. For their nested quotes, the places that the single and double quotes go is reversed compared to American usage.

“And I quote: ‘Nested quotations are often confusing.’ End quote,” recited Twilight.

Twilight described Pinkie Pie’s latest antics: “And then Pinkie Pie said, ‘What if Dash said “Boo!” and I was all “Nobody nests quotes like the Pinkie-meister, except for that one guy who once said ‘I can make it even more confusing’!”’”

Don’t ever nest more than one quote inside of another. As you can see, it quickly becomes confusing, and no reader should have to diagram out a sentence to figure out what it means. Then again, I could imagine it being used for humorous effects at the hands of a Ms. Pie.

6) If the “so-and-so said” part of a sentence falls in the middle of a quoted sentence, when you start writing the quoted material again you leave the first letter of the second quoted line lowercase. Else, it follows the normal rules.

“It often occurs to me at such times,” said Twilight, “that the best action would be inaction.”

“Yes, I’ll get right on it,” said Twilight, “Is there anything else you need?”

Notice how the in the first example the quote was interrupted in the middle of a sentence (“It often occurs to me at such times that the best action would be inaction.”), where the second quote was interrupted between two separate and complete sentences (“Yes, I’ll get right on it. Is there anything else you need?”). Of course, even in the second case one could join those sentences with a comma or semicolon, but you can see that they do stand on their own merits, while the second part of the first example could not stand as its own sentence (“That the best action would be inaction.”).

7) Very short bits of quoted material don’t have to be introduced by a comma or colon, but are simply treated as an element of the larger sentence. However, normal rules for capitalization for dialogue still apply.

Twilight jumped into the air, shouted “Aha!” and ran out the door.

This is the exception to the “introduce it with a comma or colon” rule I stated earlier. Generally this type of punctuation isn’t used for actual dialogue, but you can see how it could be used. Be careful when doing this, and be prepared to defend your decision.

8) Commas and periods go inside of the quotes whether or not they were part of the original quoted material. All other punctuation only goes inside of the quotes if it is part of the quoted material, else it goes after the quotation marks. British rules differ here. In the British system, the periods and commas are treated just like any other punctuation in this matter. Frankly, it is more logical, but too bad. Writing where this rule comes into play is more likely to not be dialogue, so you’re unlikely to need to refer to this rule when writing fiction.

9) Multi-paragraph quotes start each paragraph with an open double-quotation mark. The closing quotation mark isn’t used until the actual end of the quote. The open quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph serve to remind the reader that what is written is still part of the quote. I’ve only seen this in stories like The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, where nearly half of each adventure is told by a character in the story. You’re unlikely to have to ever use this rule.

10) Quotation marks also enclose words referred to as words, letters referred to as letters, words borrowed from a foreign language, representations of sounds, definitions, or comments meant to be read ironically.

The word “lay” should not be confused with the word “lie.”

“A” is the first letter of the alphabet, followed by “b.”

The “scientific” evidence for ESP is truly “overwhelming.”

The term “dock” refers to “the part of a horse’s tail near the rump,” not “a platform for mooring ships to.”

Rarity stood there, awed by Twilight’s new “coiffure.”

Most of these uses (with the exceptions of definitions and ironic comments) can simply be italicised instead of placed with quotation marks. I would encourage that practice, as it makes for less cluttered-looking writing. Also, don’t overuse “ironic” quotes. To do so would make you look “insane,” or like an “asshole.”

Sources:
Webster's Punctuation Guide (Federal Street Press, Merriam-Webster, 2006)
Oxford Style Manual (Oxford University Press, 2003)