This guest post is by Aman Basanti of Ageofmarketing.com.
Quotes and dialogue are one of the most powerful tools in the writer’s toolbox. They bring your writing to life. They give your piece voice and make the words jump off the page. As the famous writer Stephen King once said, “What people say often conveys their character to others in ways of which they—the speakers—are completely unaware.”
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Please note that there are exceptions to some of these rules (depending on whether you use the American standard or the UK standard). But for most part if you follow these rules you will be fine.
How to capitalize a quote
All quotes should be capitalized, except for fragments. If your quotes are not capitalised, your readers may think it is a partial quote with the ellipsis omitted.
Even when you quote someone mid-sentence, you should capitalise the quote.
As George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
How to extend a quote over multiple paragraphs
Say you want to break up the following quote into two paragraphs:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with. Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”
Most people open and close the quote in each paragraph:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with.”
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”
The correct way of doing this is not to close the quote at the end of each paragraph, only the last one:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with.
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”
How to edit a quote
It is amazing how many mistakes we make when speaking. It is only when you transcribe the speech to paper that you see these mistakes. As a writer then, you are allowed to clean up quotes.
For example, consider the following quote:
“There’s a 1000 people in the hall and they all love what I do.”
Clean it up so the verb agrees with the plural “people.”
“There are 1000 people in the hall and they all love what I do.”
The only exception is that if you want to make the author sound uneducated that you leave the quote in its original form.
How to add to a quote
If you need to add to a quote, do not simply include the extra words in the quote. Use the “[ ]” marker to show your additions.
As he said in an interview, “[The prosecution’s case] was weaker than Columbus’s claim that China was 10,000 miles closer than was the accepted wisdom at the time.”
How to include original errors without making yourself look silly
Say you want to insert a quote that is written incorrectly in its original form (whether by design or by mistake) but you do not want your readers to think that you are the source of the mistake.
The poster read, “Old skool remixes are the koolest.”
“Skool” and “koolest” are written incorrectly. To fix this, simply include [sic] after each of the words.
The poster read, “Old skool [sic] remixes are the koolest [sic].”
This lets the reader know that you are not the source of the error.
How to handle a quote within a quote
If you want to insert a quote that has a quote inside of it, use a pair of single quotation marks (‘ ’) to enclose the sub-quote.
“The driver said to me, ‘Where would you like to go today?’”
How to handle commas and periods in your quotes
Do you place commas and periods (full stops) outside or inside of the quotation marks? Answer: It depends. The American standard is that commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, regardless of logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an angry tenant.”
The English standard is that commas and periods follow logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an angry tenant”.
If you are unsure which standard to follow, include the commas and periods inside the quotation marks.
How to handle question marks and exclamation marks in your quotes
When it comes question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!) both American and English standards follow logic. So if the question is in the quote itself, place it inside of the quotation marks. Otherwise place it outside the quotation marks.
At that point he asked himself, “Is this worth the effort?”
Do you agree with the adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt”?
Conclusion
Follow these rules and your writing will look more professional, helping you establish authority in the mind of your blog readers.
If you know of other mistakes that I have not covered here (I know there are a few more) please share them with us in the comments section.
Aman Basanti writes about the psychology of buying and teaches you how you can use the principles of consumer psychology to boost your sales. Visit www.Ageofmarketing.com/free-ebook to get his new ebook—Marketing to the Pre-Historic Mind: How the Hot New Science of Behavioural Economics Can Help You Boost Your Sales—for FREE.
