When someone says the words quote or unquote or quote/unquote, they should be surrounded by punctuation, AND the word or words that follow should still be quoted. There is no rule in the literature that supports leaving out the quote marks because the words are said. It is not an either/or. The words quote/unquote have a slash mark between them. …
To Quote Thoughts or Not?
When someone is “thinking” and saying aloud what that thought might be, if he is using the exact wording he would use when saying it, yes, it should be quoted. …I said to myself, “Wow. I am in trouble now.” …I thought, “How am I going to explain this to him?” …I wondered, “What do I do if this car …
A Comma Before a Quote?
A question from a reporter today is in regard to placing a comma before a quote when the quote surrounds a word that is being defined. So let’s look at the rule for quoting and the rule for the comma: When a word or words are being defined, they are quoted in reporting. (By the way, in formal English they …