I is forgetting my rules about quotes

mdin · Mar 24, 2009

I've come to ya'll in my time of need. My expensive degree has failed me.

How would this sentence be punched out? The whole thing is in quotes because it's being said out loud.

"Tom said, 'The chicken has rabies,' Bill said, 'the cow is on fire,' and Wanda said, 'take that thing off the pig,' but I just kept yelling 'Opie!' over and over until my voice gave out."

Is that correct? It looks funny. Rewriting is not an option as this is an exact quote.

Cathy C · Mar 24, 2009

Single quotes within double quotes is fine. I prefer italics, myself, but this works. Yeah, it looks weird (which is why I use italics), but it's grammatically correct.

TheIT · Mar 24, 2009

I agree with the single quotes within double quotes, but shouldn't quotations of complete sentences be capitalized?

"Tom said, 'The chicken has rabies,' Bill said, 'The cow is on fire,' and Wanda said, 'Take that thing off the pig,' but I just kept yelling 'Opie!' over and over until my voice gave out."

mdin · Mar 24, 2009

Thanks!

It's not the single quotes in double quotes that's throwing me off, it's the whole a-new-speaker-is-supposed-to-be-in-its-own-paragraph rule that's making my grammaridy-sense tingle.

TheIT · Mar 24, 2009

Since one person is quoting another person's words, there's still only one speaker. You can also reword this so that the speaker isn't doing a direct quote:

"Tom said the chicken has rabies, Bill said the cow is on fire, and Wanda said to take that thing off the pig, but I just kept yelling Opie's name over and over until my voice gave out."

Little Bird · Mar 24, 2009

I would add a comma after yelling.

There is really only one speaker here, who is quoting others, so no new paragraphs are needed.

I is forgetting my rules about quotes

mdin

The late, the great XThe NavigatorX

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

mdin

The late, the great XThe NavigatorX

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Little Bird