I am BACK!! I hope your holidays were glorious. Mine were lovely even though I was really down and out sick with a throat “thing.” I think that, after almost three weeks, I am finally getting better. Can you say “froggy”? The question of whether to put a comma before quotes when quoting from a document came up on Facebook. …
The Quotation Mark and Caps
The rule is that the first word of a quote is capped if it begins a grammatically complete thought or anything that stands for a complete thought. Otherwise, it is lowercase. …QÂ Where were you all headed that morning? …AÂ We were headed to work. …QÂ When you say, “We were headed to work,” do you mean to your regular …
Made-Up Words
When a word is made up but it has a normal, regular English spelling, put a pair of quotes around it rather than using sic or verbatim to point it out as an error. …She was just acting “obliviated.” …It had been “dramastically” reduced. The quotes act to signal that something is different about the word but do not point …
Oops!! Oops!! Oops!!
It should be …QÂ Â Â Â Â So, “No,” you don’t know? Or, “No,” there weren’t any left? Happy punctuating! Margie
“Do you know?” and Others
When a question like “Do you know?” or “Do you recall?” is tacked on at the end of another question, use an interrog for both questions. …How close were you to the edge of the road? Do you know? …What time was it that he arrived? Do you remember? …Where was he stationed? Do you recall? Happy punctuating! Margie
Made-Up Words
When someone makes up a word that looks like an English word and can be readily spelled, the rule is that the word should be quoted. There is no need to use [sic] after such a word. The quotes clue the reader that something is unusual about the word. …It was “dramastically” reduced in size. …There was always “insinuendo” about …
Periods and Commas and Quotes
Periods and commas go inside of quotes WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS in the entire language. Whether it is one word or one letter or a number or a long quote, the period and the comma go inside. …When you added the letter “s,” did it make a difference? …When she said, “You have to leave me alone,” what was your response? …
Quotes for a Made-Up Word
When a word is made up but has all the characteristics of an English word — dramastically, considerated — spell it correctly and use a pair of quotes around it. There is not a need to use sic. The quotes alert your reader that it is not really a word but that it is what was said. …She was really …
Quote Marks After the Word “That”
The rule about no quotes after the word “that” is for good grammar. After the word “that” in good grammar, the words should be an indirect quote or a paraphrase. In “bad” grammar, people get to say it whatever way they like, resulting in the need to use quotes after the word “that.” …I said that “You have to get …
…don’t mean “will” will…
As long as I have been in this field, I have never been asked this question until recently — and it has come up at least ten times in the past six months! Weird. What do we do with this? …I don’t mean “will” will. …He isn’t really “right” right. The first word is in the category of a word …