"Quote", he said or "quote." He said.

Literature & Writing Writer's Block
1

I do have respect for good grammar, so I want to do the right thing. However I am not obsessed with getting every minute detail correct if the average reader doesn’t notice or care.

I have been writing a book which is 90% finished now, in Scrivener which is fantastic btw, but I now realise that it has been automatically capitalising every time I end a quote. Such as…

“It is only a theory sir. Maybe one of my crazier ones I admit.” Said Frank.

I have done some research and see that the technical English grammar experts are saying I should be writing this as…

“It is only a theory sir. Maybe one of my crazier ones I admit”, said Frank.

Now that I am reading it though on my 4th draft, I am worried whether this is a major mistake or a terribly minor one. If I have to change them all I have to go back through 65,000 words of dialogue heavy writing

Thoughts anyone ?

(I posted here because activity in the writer’s section seems very low. I hope it’s ok)

2

I’m not sure I’d agree that the average reader is untroubled by imprecise English. In my experience, the opposite is true.

In American English, your example sentence is properly written as “It is only a theory, sir. Maybe one of my crazier ones,” said Frank.

“I admit” is unnecessary; it’s evident Frank is admitting it. And the comma belongs inside the ending quote (in American English).

3

Except that is not actually what I said. I referred to “getting every minute detail correct”. And I of course do care about good grammar where it belongs and good punctuation.

My query was about punctuation. I’m not really concerned about what is obvious or not. Thanks all the same.

I also appreciate your American input but I am writing in British English though I don’t know if there is any difference in this particular punctuation situation.

4

I found a very nice web page that I hope I can place my trust in here:
fiction-writers-mentor.com/p … logue.html
It looks like I’ll have to go back through the 65,000 words and check every single one :unamused:

5

Don’t be disheartened. In making that one more pass, you may still find passages you can make even stronger. There’s always that “one more” lurking! :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing the resource, too. I’m moving this thread to the Writer’s Block forum, as it’s more suited to that and may assist others with a similar question.

6

I just hope more people post to that section more often.

7

If you’re looking for a super active writers’ forum, check out Absolute Write. Tons of writers discussing lots of topics over there.

8

Being British, I would say that in this instance there is no difference between American and British English, and I would punctuate exactly as Ahab does.

To me the difference lies in the relation of end-quotes and sentence punctuation. In American — and I’ve had to fight many battles over this — the punctuation always goes inside the end quote, whereas in British English it depends on the relationship of the matter inside the quotes with the overall sentence. So, scare quotes for example:

American: “This, here” is an example of what I know as a “scare quote.”

British: “This, here” is an example of what I know as a “scare quote”.

The quotes are marking the expressions for special notice: so in British English, the full-stop, which relates to the sentence, not the quote, should be outside the quote marks; in American English, it goes inside the quote marks as any such punctuation always does — a practice I have always found totally illogical. When writing for China Daily: 21st Century, as a consequence, I ended up editing my text so that I never had something in scare quotes immediately before a comma or a full-stop, so I didn’t have to battle the question.

On the other hand:

He said, “I’ve always found that to be totally illogical.”

is the same in both American and British, as the full-stop is the termination of the quoted sentence.

Mr X