He said, "She said 'Your grammar sucks'."

Koulentis · May 31, 2019

I was looking through the forum for guidance on interrupting dialogue. (Found it! https://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?322882-Punctuation-of-Interrupted-Dialogue) But now I'm uncertain how to correctly write the example below. Added a bit of red and bold to a couple versions in order to help the punctuation stand out.

The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says a gentleman should always carry a handkerchief."
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says 'A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief'."
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says 'A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief.'"
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief."
Or
Something else entirely.

Thank you for your help.

Bufty · May 31, 2019

I'm probably ducking the question. :flag:

The first one is OK to me. KISS. Keep it simple, Sally. :Hug2:

Why does she have to be literally quoting? She could simply be referring.

I don't care for the repetitive 'says' structure, which is the source of your issue here.

JAS - The etiquette teacher waves a white handkerchief. "According to Miss Manners, a gentleman should always carry one of these."

Lakey · May 31, 2019

I agree with Bufty on both counts - the first is fine, if you must use that sentence structure, but preferable still would be to rewrite the sequence so that the sentence does not begin with the attribution.

:e2coffee:

Margrave86 · May 31, 2019

Better would be:

The etiquette teachers says:
"Miss Manners says, 'A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief.'"

Colons can be used to break sentences up and start quotations in new parqgraphs. Though I agree with the others that using 'says' twice is very redundant. Maybe 'lectured' would be a better word for a teacher to use?

Koulentis · May 31, 2019

Thank you Bufty, Lakey, and Margrave86 for your quick replies and your help.

Yep, that example is clunky. I should have come up with a better example to mirror the quote within a quote punctuation I saw in that old interrupted dialogue thread (https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sho...upted-Dialogue).

Thanks again!

"Any news on my request for leniency?"
"The Grammar Police said, 'Offenses this heinous demand life in prison.'"

PS: Thanks to the Admins for moving this post to the correct forum.

Langadune · May 31, 2019

"The Grammar Police said that offenses this heinous demand life in prison."
People often talk like that. When using dialogue, grammatical sins can get a bit of a pass as people don't always strictly follows the laws of grammar.

Koulentis · May 31, 2019

Thank you Langadune. Greatly appreciated.

Sage · May 31, 2019

How do you want the sentence read?

Use the first one if there’s an invisible “that” in there. (“...says that a gentleman...”). That is, if the etiquette teacher is not intending to directly quote Miss Manners but rather share some general advice.

If she’s intending it as a quotation of what Miss Manners actually says, I’d use the second set of quotation marks. With a period inside all of them.

Koulentis · Jun 1, 2019

Thank you, Sage! There isn't one particular sentence that I'm trying to fix. The question stems from seeing the quote within a quote written a couple different ways in books and an entirely different way on that AW forum post.

I pretty much botched my question, examples, and post title. So I greatly appreciate you wading through the mess. Your instruction on 'general advice' versus 'intention as a quote' is exactly what I needed. Thank you!

TheListener · Jun 1, 2019

Koulentis said:
I was looking through the forum for guidance on interrupting dialogue. (Found it! https://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?322882-Punctuation-of-Interrupted-Dialogue) But now I'm uncertain how to correctly write the example below. Added a bit of red and bold to a couple versions in order to help the punctuation stand out.

The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says a gentleman should always carry a handkerchief."
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says 'A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief'."
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says 'A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief.'"
Or
The etiquette teacher says, "Miss Manners says A gentleman should always carry a handkerchief."
Or
Something else entirely.

Thank you for your help.

First one.

jorge · Jun 1, 2019

I think the second option would work best.

Koulentis · Jun 1, 2019

Thank you, Jorge and TheListener. Appreciate you taking the time to help me.

jwhite1979 · Jun 6, 2019

The first one is fine, as long as you don't want to imply a direct quotation. The second is standard British practice, while the third is the standard in the United States. The fourth is an abomination.

Koulentis · Jun 7, 2019

jwhite1979 said:
The fourth is an abomination.

Lol. Thank you, jwhite1979. I appreciate the help and chuckle.

jpoelma13 · Jun 7, 2019

As far as I know the third one is correct. Quotation marks are used to indicate dialogue, and the period is placed inside of the quotation marks. I have to agree with everyone else though; that sentence needs to be rewritten.

He said, "She said 'Your grammar sucks'."

Koulentis

Troublemaker

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

Lakey

professional dilettante

Margrave86

Koulentis

Troublemaker

Langadune

Harley Writer

Koulentis

Troublemaker

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

Koulentis

Troublemaker

TheListener

jorge

Koulentis

Troublemaker

jwhite1979

Koulentis

Troublemaker

jpoelma13