The Century Handbook of Writing Part 56

Wrong: He shouted but one command, "Give them the bayonet"!

Right: He shouted but one command, "Give them the bayonet!"

Wrong: Did Savonarola say, "I recant?"

Right: Did Savonarola say, "I recant"?

Note.--Regarding the position of a comma, semicolon, or period at the end of a quotation, usage differs. Printers ordinarily place commas and periods inside the quotation marks, and semicolons outside, from considerations of s.p.a.cing. But logic, not s.p.a.cing, should determine the order, and all three marks should be treated alike. They should be placed within the quotation marks if they were a part of the original quotation; otherwise outside. In quoting ma.n.u.script, the quotation marks should enclose exactly what is in the original. In quoting oral discourse, a certain liberty is necessarily allowed.

Correct: He said calmly, "It is I."

Also correct, but not commonly used: He said calmly, "It is I".

Correct, and in common use, but slightly illogical: He began, "Our Father which art in heaven." [The period should follow the quotation mark, since there is no period in the original quotation.]

Correct, and in common use, but slightly illogical: Can you tell me the difference between "apt," "likely," and "liable"; between "noted" and "notorious"?

Also correct: Can you tell me the difference between "apt", "likely", and "liable"; between "noted" and "notorious"?

=h. When a quotation is interrupted by such an expression as _he said,_=

=1. An extra set of quotation marks is employed, and the interpolated words are normally set off by commas.=

Wrong: "I rise said he to second the motion."

Right: "I rise," said he, "to second the motion."

=2. A question mark or exclamation point should precede the interpolated expression if it would be used were the expression omitted.=

Right: "'May I go?'" complained father, "is all that boy can ask."

Right: "Merciful heavens!" he cried, "we are lost."

=3. The expression should be followed by a semicolon if the semicolon would follow the preceding words in case the expression were omitted.=

Right: "I admit it", he said; "it is true."

=4. Neither the expression nor the words following it should begin with a capital.=

Wrong: "We must be quiet", Said the old man, "If we expect to catch sight of a squirrel."

Right: "We must be quiet", said the old man, "if we expect to catch sight of a squirrel."

=i. An omission from a quotation is indicated by dots.=

Right: "When a word is followed by both a quotation mark and ... an exclamation point, ... the exclamation point should come ... last, if it applies to the main sentence." [Abridged citation of g above.]

=j. Do not use superfluous quotation marks:=

1. Around the t.i.tle at the head of a theme (unless it is a quoted t.i.tle);

2. As a label for humor or irony.

Superfluous: The "abstemious" Mr. Crew ate an enormous dinner.

Better: The abstemious Mr. Crew ate an enormous dinner.

Exercise:

1. Carew says, "that the profit comes from selling knickknacks."

2. What's the matter with that horse? asked Williams. He's as frisky as if he had been shut up a week.

3. "Who's your favorite character in the play?, persisted Laura. Is it "Brutus"? No, answered Howard; I admire his wife "Portia".

4. "It's amazing, said Mrs. Phelps, how children love playthings. Helen Locke said yesterday, Hughie always tells me when I am putting him to bed, I want my Teddy bear".

5. "You see, said Daugherty, the two offices across the corridor from each ether." "One is the county clerk's." "The other is the county collector's."

=The Apostrophe=

=97a. In contracted words place the apostrophe where letters are omitted, and do not place it elsewhere.=

Wrong: does'nt, theyr'e, oclock.

Right: doesn't, they're, o'clock.

=b. To form the possessive of a noun, singular or plural, that does not end in _s_, add '_s_.=

Right: A hunter's gun, children's games, the cannon's mouth.

=c. To form the possessive of a noun, singular or plural, that ends in _s_, place an apostrophe after (not before) the _s_ if there is no new syllable in p.r.o.nunciation. If there is a new syllable in p.r.o.nunciation, add _'s_.=

Wrong: Moses's mandates, Keat's poems, d.i.c.ken's novels, those hunter's guns.

Right: Moses' mandates, Keats's poems (or Keats' poems), d.i.c.kens' (or d.i.c.kens's) novels, those hunters' guns.

=d. Do not use an apostrophe with the possessive adjectives _its_, _his_, _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, and _theirs_. But _one's_, _other's_, _either's_ take the apostrophe.=

=e. Add _'s_ to form the plural of letters of the alphabet, of words spoken of as words, and sometimes numbers.= But do not form the regular plural of a word by adding _'s_ (See 77).

Right: His _B's_, _8's_ (or _8s_), and _it's_ look much alike.

Wrong: The Jones's, the Smith's, and the Brown's.

Right: The Joneses, the Smiths, and the Browns.