Grammatically Correct

Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are used to indicate that a character is talking.

Example:

"Hello, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm good, thank you," He responded.

The quotation marks go at the beginning and the end of what the person is saying. If you leave out the quotation marks, no one will know that the sentence was spoken by a character. If you don't put the second mark at the end of the comment, no one will know that they had stopped talking. Or if you forget the first mark, no one would have known that they had started talking.

Each time a new character talks, a new paragraph starts. If you don't start a new paragraph, people will assume that it is still the same person speaking.

Wrong:

"Hi," Emily whispered. "Hey," Jack whispered back.

Right:

"Hi," Emily whispered.

"Hey," Jack whispered back.

Punctuation marks within quotation marks. It differs for each punctuation mark that you use and what comes after the quote. In most cases, you would use a comma.

"It's nice to meet you," I said.

If you were to use an exclamation mark or a question mark, it would be about the same.

"I've missed you!" She exclaimed.

But what about using a period? What comes after the quote affects whether it will be a comma, other mark, or period. When using a word to describe how it was said, you would use a comma. (said, yelled, gasped, pleaded, stuttered, etc.)

"Thank you," He mumbled.

But if you were to use a word other than how the quote is said, then you use a period. (nodded, frowned, noticed, smiled, etc.) In this case, the word more so an action rather than a descriptive word.

"Yes, I heard you." She nodded.

In the case of having the quote interrupted, there are separate punctuation rules. After the action or vocal descriptive, more quotation marks are placed, and then the comment, which then ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark, and then another quotation mark.

"I don't know," He said, looking around. "I haven't seen it."

I haven't often seen it, or have used it where after the vocal descriptive, there is a comma used, but as far as I know, it is the same as above.

"But why?" She asks, "Why would that happen?"

If you were to have the action or describe what is being said before the quote, you put a comma and then the quotation mark, and then the comment.

Jackson retorted, "Nice try, fool."

If what comes before the quote is an action, then the sentence ends with a period, and then the quotation marks and comment.

She leapt forward. "Stop!"

If there are no vocal descriptions or actions before or after the comment, then the comment will not end with a comma, only a period or other quotation mark.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

The only time you will not have punctuation at the end of a quote is when siting in an essay. Punctuation marks always go inside the quotation marks and you always capitalize the first word of a quote.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If I am incorrect about anything, please let me know! I'm hoping to help others to better their writing skills because a lot of these things I was not taught in school and had to learn on my own time