Quotations
Q. I teach my students to keep the capitalization used in the original text when quoting in a paper or to indicate with brackets when the original text has been changed. I also tell them to alter the original casing to mesh into their sentences. However, examples in some English grammar books maintain the capitalization on poetry, even when meshing into a writer’s sentence, e.g., “Frost writes of the separation of ‘Two roads.’” Is this correct, or should it be “the separation of ‘[t]wo roads’”? Answer »
Q. I’m working on a manuscript where the author starts many block quotes with lowercase words. Is this okay? Answer »
Q. Microsoft Word just suggested I change “What do you mean ’unfortunately?’” to “What do you mean ’unfortunately’?” Should I tell Word to leave me alone, or am I mistaken in believing that, in American English, quotation marks envelop all neighboring punctuation? Answer »
Q. I’m in the process of editing a nonfiction book about a murder trial that took place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1983. I need to know whether courtroom testimony that the author quotes from the public record—and has set inside quotation marks—must be reproduced precisely as it was transcribed in the courtroom (except for elisions and paraphrases of testimony not set in quotes). Answer »
Q. Is there ever an instance when quote marks should be italic following your rules in 6.3? For example, your last example in 6.3 has roman quote marks, I believe. But if “Help!” were on a line all by itself, would the quote marks still be roman or should they be italic as I’ve done here? Answer »
Q. This is called . I’m a copyeditor and would like to know if words following “called” should be in double quotation marks. If one searches CMOS Online for the word “called,” the majority of cases do not use quotation marks. However, sections 5.176 and 14.51 do, as well as almost all the Q&As, even though the usage looks the same as every other “called” in the Manual. Answer »
Q. I am editing a manuscript that uses quotations from British texts. Can I silently change British spellings (such as “colour”) into American spellings in quotations? Answer »
Q. I’m editing a manuscript in which the author wants to add emphasis to a lengthy quotation. The original already has several phrases in italics. Is there a proper and/or elegant way to add emphasis to an already emphasized passage without confusing the reader? Answer »
Q. I am in the awkward situation of trying to cite an excerpted book review that appears on the dust jacket of an updated edition of said monograph. While it seems technically correct to cite the name of the reviewer, the book being reviewed and its author, the title of the original source of the review, “quoted in” Book Being Reviewed, 2d ed. (publication information), jacket; this also strikes me as convoluted and vaguely ridiculous. Finding the source of the original review would provide a way out, I know, but I’d rather not sift through several months worth of copies of the Daily Telegraph (c. 1965). Answer »
Q. I am editing a manuscript in which the author loves to use quotation marks around special expressions that are not to be taken literally. Eliminating them is not an option. The problem I am having is that at the end of a quotation that ends a sentence he often uses ellipsis. Here is an actual example: It might be illuminating to pursue the relationship between Goffmanian and Christian usages of stigma and stigmatization in the context of guilty knowledge, confession, healing, guilt, forgiveness, and “the marked man/woman.” . . . (The ellipsis is his.) What do you think? Answer »
Q. When quoting from a book and using the four-dot method of ellipsis, can one arrange the order of sentences differently from how they appear in the book? Could one, for example—in an attempt to give a concise, overall impression of the author’s thinking—begin with a quote from chapter 10, then from chapter 4, and finally from chapter 1? A colleague and I have both looked in the manual and couldn’t find anything. Answer »
Q. Hello, just wondering, when footnoting a direct quote, does the footnote go directly after the quote (sometimes in the middle of the sentence), or at the end of the sentence? Thanks for your help! Answer »
Q. I am copyediting a historic work which includes quite a number of implied quotes, such as the following, where no quotation marks have been used: As Robert Choquette says, the wide range of theological tenets within Protestantism makes too much generalization about the feelings and reactions of clergy dangerous. I realize there are situations where quotation marks are not required, such as: Jane asked him to come to dinner but he said he had another commitment, but “As Robert Choquette says” certainly reads as though a direct quote should follow. Am I being too paranoid or pedantic? I would much appreciate your advice on this. Answer »
Q. If I’m making a song title possessive and the song title is plural, what would I do? For example, would I write . . . Answer »
Q. We do a lot of excerpts from articles and books at my job. But folks here are unhappy because they cannot distinguish between ellipses that existed in the originals and ones that we have inserted to indicate missing material. I can find no mention of how to deal with this quandary in The Chicago Manual of Style. Please help—many reprints lie ahead! Answer »
Q. When is it appropriate to use quotation marks to set off a term that is being defined or described in academic writing? I edit casebooks and journal articles for law professors, and authors will often write sentences such as: Answer »
Q. Dear CMOS, I’m proofreading a reissue of a children’s mystery novel. The following appears in the original edition: “I said don’t move.” Is this styled and punctuated correctly? I feel I should recast it to “I said, ‘Don’t move.’” But something about the brevity of the command “don’t move” makes me waver and want to leave it as is (or find another punctuation style), treating the line as one might treat “I said no.” I can’t seem to wrap my head around this. Help! Many thanks. Answer »
Q. In quoting historical letters or correspondence, what is the current accepted practice as far as leaving mistakes or clarifying mistakes for modern readers? Is it dependent on the work? Answer »
Q. I’m confused by the last paragraph in section 11.63, which covers capitalization of quoted material. Is it saying that it is okay to begin a quote with an ellipsis followed by a lowercase letter (thereby retaining the original case)? Answer »
Q. I am working on a book about writing. May I quote briefly from the published work of other writers, with full attribution? By “briefly,” I mean no more than two sentences. Thank you. Answer »
Q. Dear Editor, I am editing a quarterly bulletin for a church, and have run into a problem. “It’s” is confused with “its” in a lengthy article an author quotes in his text. Given your feeling on the overuse of “sic,” I’m wondering how best to handle this. Simply ignore it, or “sic” it? I appreciate your help. Thank you. Answer »
Q. I am currently editing a lengthy manuscript made up almost entirely of quotations made by a dead person to a living person. The living person is what is known as a “channeler.” Since the living person is quoting what the dead person tells her, how do I handle the quotes? The dead person is of such stature that giving the quotes to the living person does not seem right. Any help you can give me is much appreciated. Answer »
Q. In paragraph 11.8, in the section on permissible changes to quotations, CMOS says, “Obvious typographic errors may be corrected silently (without comment or sic) unless the passage quoted is from an older work or a manuscript source where idiosyncrasies of spelling are generally preserved.” Earlier in the passage, CMOS states that direct quotes must reproduce exactly not only the wording but the spelling, capitalization, and internal punctuation of the original. It does not mention italicizing. When I’ve edited quotes or extracts from older texts, I’ve, as a rule, reproduced pretty much “everything” as it is in the older text. I am editing a book now with numerous quotes from seventeenth-century books or letters, referencing ships. Before launching forth, thought I would double check. Seems ship names were not italicized back then. My thought is to leave as they are in the original—as roman. That is, do not italicize ship names in the quotes or extracts. Would this be correct? Answer »
Q. Apparently Americans enclose periods commas inside quotation marks, but do the British do it that way too??? Answer »
Q. When quoting statutory material, is it appropriate to substitute ellipses points in for semicolons that end the “line” of a statutory clause? For instance, suppose a statutory clause reads “(i) Procedures involving animals will avoid or minimize discomfort, distress, and pain to the animals;”, and this is the end of the line (that is, the next line starts with “(ii)”). In this situation, if one quotes the line itself, should one end it with a period, ellipses points, or maybe even a bracketed period? Answer »
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