“Yes” and “No” and Their Friends

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Quotation Mark, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

When “yes” and “no” are being used generically, there are no quotes. That is, when they are being used to refer to a positive or negative answer, they are not quoted. Attorneys are generally looking for a generic response and are not requiring that those words and only those words be used. When the “yes” and “no” are mixed in …

Jim Barker on Whether or Not to Quote

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Quotation Mark 1 Comment

Jim Barker, September of 2014, was asked this question: “Do you quote when you can’t see the quoted material and you don’t know if they really read it verbatim?” Jim’s response: “Absolutely. And why is that? Because, when a reporter quotes a speaker who is reading from a document, the reporter is not quoting the words in the ‘document’; the …

More on Quotes

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Quotation Mark 2 Comments

…Did he say things like “I’m not going to keep it ” or “I want to sell it ” or “I want to lease it out”? Or what did he tell you? No comma after “like” because it is a preposition and the sentences are the objects of the preposition. No commas after the sentences as they are objects of …

More on Quotes

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Quotation Mark Leave a Comment

…He said, “I have never seen him in my life.” …She said, “You may not access those files.” …He said something like “I have never seen him in my life.” …She said something to the effect of “You may not access those files.” When the quote follows words that are not lead-in words, there is no comma before the quote. …

Quotes

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Question Mark, The Quotation Mark, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Periods and commas go inside quotes without exception; colons and semicolons go outside quotes without exception. Question marks go inside or outside quotes depending on where the question is being asked: If there is a question inside the quotes, the question mark goes inside; if there is no question inside the quotes but there is one outside, the question mark …