5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations

5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations 5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations 5 Sentences Demonstrating Whether to Capitalize and Punctuate Quotations By Mark Nichol When the syntax of a sentence containing a quotation is not straightforward, it can be difficult to determine whether the first word should be capitalized and which punctuation marks, if any, should attend the quotation. The following sentences illustrate some of the pitfalls, and discussions and revisions point to their solutions. 1. After years of finger-pointing, Smith says â€Å"enough is enough† and is filing suit against Jones. The statement may seem insignificant, but it is a complete sentence and should be treated as one; it should also be preceded by a comma following the attribution (â€Å"Smith says†): â€Å"After years of finger-pointing, Smith says, â€Å"Enough is enough† and is filing suit against Jones. (Note, too, that no punctuation follows the quotation, because what follows is not an independent clause; it would be one if it included a noun or pronoun after and: â€Å"After years of finger-pointing, Smith says, â€Å"Enough is enough,† and he is filing suit against Jones.†) 2. Clients have begun to ask the question, who will own the process once the change has occurred? The question is something uttered or conjecturally uttered, so it should be enclosed in quotation marks. However, it is not set up with a traditional attribution. No preceding punctuation is needed: â€Å"Clients have begun to ask the question ‘Who will own the process once the change has occurred?’† (A comma after question implies that only one question exists, and it follows.) 3. The question is not â€Å"can it happen?† but â€Å"what is the impact if it does happen, and how will we respond?† Here, the issues in both of the preceding examples are combined in one sentence. There is no attribution to set off with a comma, but each of the two quotations is a complete sentence quoted within the host sentence and must therefore be capitalized: â€Å"The question is not ‘Can it happen?’ but ‘What is the impact if it does happen, and how will we respond?’† 4. He mocked Trump’s slogan, suggesting it was really: â€Å"Make America Hate Again.† A colon sets up an explanation or elaboration. Here, however, what follows really flows syntactically in the sentence, so no intervening punctuation is called for: â€Å"He mocked Trump’s slogan, suggesting it was really ‘Make America Hate Again.’† 5. They ignored the kids’ stubborn insistence that, â€Å"We don’t just look different, we are different.† Here, although the quotation in this sentence was originally uttered as a complete statement, it has been syntactically integrated into the host sentence and is therefore not capitalized: â€Å"They ignored the kids’ stubborn insistence that ‘we don’t just look different, we are different.’† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should KnowTry to vs. Try andParataxis and Hypotaxis