Punctuating Quotes

[ScrewMoonshine]

Embarrassing as it may be, I still don't know the proper punctuation procedure for the following situation: You have a sentence that ends with a quote, and the punctuation you would use for the quoted sentence is different from what you would use for the main sentence.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

How could he expect me to stay in that house after they had all said to me "You don't belong here"

Obviously the main sentence is a question, but the quoted sentence is a statement. So what should I do here? Punctuate only the main sentence (...said to me "You don't belong here"?), only the quoted sentence (... said to me "You don't belong here."), or both (... said to me "You don't belong here."?) ?

Robert Orme

[BarbT]

I really thought the last version was the clearest, but I found it's not the correct method.

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/puncquotes.html

When the whole sentence except for the section enclosed in quotation marks is a question or exclamation, the question or exclamation mark goes outside the quotation mark.

Which British writer wrote, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls"?

When only the unit in quotation marks is a question or exclamation, the mark goes inside the closing quotation mark.

The mediator asked, "What have you learned from this experience?"

When both the whole sentence and the unit enclosed in quotation marks are questions or exclamations, the question or exclamation mark goes inside the closing quotation mark.

What does Joseph Campbell believe happens when you "Follow your bliss?"

When using a parenthetical reference with a quote that ends in an exclamation point or question mark, keep the original punctuation inside the quotation and place a period after the parenthetical reference.

Kurt Koffka, a Gestalt psychologist, asked "Why do humans see their minds in terms of elementary parts?" (Gray 74).

I don't understand the Joseph Campbell example. "Follow your bliss" was not a question.

This was the only reference I checked. I wonder if these are hard-and-fast rules, or if the experts disagree.

Barb

[crystalwizard]

Robert, just drop the quote marks off the sentence and punctuate it as you would normally.

>How could he expect me to stay in that house after they had all said to me "You don't belong here"

Correct would be:
How could he expect me to stay in that house after all they had said to me? You don't belong here!

The quote doesn't belong to that sentence at all and it's clunky to try and attach it. That sentence is not a valid dialog tag.

Here's a better example:

Why did he say "I hate you"?

What did he mean when he said "I roll around in garlic"?

You are asking a question and quoting someone inside your own question. The punctuation goes at the end of your sentence.

In order to use your dialog in the sentence above, however, you'd need to rephrase Like this:

How could he expect me to stay in that house after saying to me "You don't belong here"?

[ScrewMoonshine]

I really thought the last version was the clearest, but I found it's not the correct method.

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/puncquotes.html

When the whole sentence except for the section enclosed in quotation marks is a question or exclamation, the question or exclamation mark goes outside the quotation mark.

Which British writer wrote, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls"?

When only the unit in quotation marks is a question or exclamation, the mark goes inside the closing quotation mark.

The mediator asked, "What have you learned from this experience?"

When both the whole sentence and the unit enclosed in quotation marks are questions or exclamations, the question or exclamation mark goes inside the closing quotation mark.

What does Joseph Campbell believe happens when you "Follow your bliss?"

When using a parenthetical reference with a quote that ends in an exclamation point or question mark, keep the original punctuation inside the quotation and place a period after the parenthetical reference.

Kurt Koffka, a Gestalt psychologist, asked "Why do humans see their minds in terms of elementary parts?" (Gray 74).

I don't understand the Joseph Campbell example. "Follow your bliss" was not a question.

This was the only reference I checked. I wonder if these are hard-and-fast rules, or if the experts disagree.

Barb

Given how quiet the forums have been lately, I sure didn't expect such an immediate response! Thanks so much for the help.

I don't understand the Joseph Campbell example either, nor the instructions that precede it really. What they're saying makes sense if both the whole sentence and quotation are questions, or both exclamations, but they don't explain what you should do if one is a question and one is an exclamation. I'm guessing that since the punctuation goes within the quote, you should use whichever punctuation mark is appropriate to the quoted part, but it would be nice if they were clearer about that.

Ah well, a situation like that can't happen more than one a blue moon or so, and if it does I think I'll try to find a way around it. "What did he mean when he cried out 'You'll never see the shores of Hugbarg again!'" just looks weird. A question ending in an exclamation point?

Robert Orme

[BethS]

Your first example looks right to me.