Q. What is the correct way to format this sentence? When she cried, “That’s not fair!,” he merely shrugged. Where would the comma go? Both inside and outside the quotation marks look wrong, as does omitting it altogether.
A. The punctuation in your example makes sense, but the comma after the exclamation point is omitted in dialogue as a matter of convention, even when the sentence structure would seem to require one:
When she cried, “That’s not fair!” he merely shrugged.
But if that looks a little uneven, note also that words that are described or reported as having been said (When she cried) rather than being presented directly as dialogue (She cried) don’t always need an introductory comma—especially in fiction, a subtle but useful distinction explained in more detail by Amy Schneider on pages 164 and 165 of her book The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction (University of Chicago Press, 2023).
Accordingly, you can omit commas entirely from your example, which reads like dialogue but isn’t quite direct discourse:
When she cried “That’s not fair!” he merely shrugged.
Either approach is fine, but if the context is creative and the prose casual, you may want to choose the comma-free second option. See also CMOS 13.14 and 13.15 and, for scenarios in which a comma would follow an exclamation point, 6.125.
Q. I received the following instruction from a production editor regarding a manuscript I was assigned for copyediting: “Only one character speaks British English, and unless he’s in dialogue the spelling should be American.”
I’ve always been under the impression that house style rules and spelling style should be maintained even if a character is British in an American text. How should I approach this?
A. We agree with you. For example, if a British character in an American story referred to the “color” of a particular “jumper,” you would leave the text as is:
“Could I try that jumper in a different color?”
not
“Could I try that jumper in a different colour?”
and not
“Could I try that sweater in a different color?”
The American narrator might refer to that same character’s “sweater,” but generally speaking the principle to follow is this: Retain American spellings for all narrative and dialogue, even for a British character. Vocabulary alone will establish a character’s Britishness or Americanness, as the case may be.
Q. How does one quote from an interview in which the interviewee uses the word “hashtag”? For example, “Anyone can do it, hashtag, write your own story,” with the hashtag being #WriteYourOwnStory.
A. The safest approach—one that will make it immediately clear which words belong to the hashtag—is to use quotation marks, as follows:
“Anyone can do it, hashtag ‘write your own story.’ ”
And note that there’s no need for a comma after the word “hashtag.”
Another option is to omit the quotation marks, a simpler but also less literal approach that’s best suited to dialogue in fiction and other creative contexts:
“We’ve been in the car for five hours now, hashtag are we there yet, hashtag I’m hungry.”
For the use of single quotation marks, as in the first example above, see CMOS 6.11 and 13.30.
Q. I’m writing a book about Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor, about forty of whom had their narratives reproduced in two postwar books published before 1910. These narratives have also appeared in books that were published more recently and remain under copyright. Can I use the numerous accounts (quoted in the men’s own words) from the earlier editions without obtaining the reprint publisher’s permission?
A. As long as you use only those portions of the text that were published in the older editions—both of which would now be long out of copyright—you won’t need permission to reproduce the content (though you should cite the original sources in a footnote or elsewhere). See also CMOS 4.22.
Q. Would Chicago weigh in on whether a comma can be used to introduce a block quotation? The second example in CMOS 13.23 suggests that this is acceptable when the quotation continues from the paragraph that introduces it. But what about situations like the following?
According to commentator Jean Smith,
Life for many in the province has been increasingly difficult for nearly a decade . . .
This question has been debated in the forums for years, so we would all love to have some light shed on the subject!
A. A block quotation makes it easier for readers to distinguish the words of a longer quotation from the surrounding text. It can also be used for shorter quotations that require special emphasis.
But aside from that, a block quotation is no different from a quotation that’s been run in to the surrounding text and identified with the help of quotation marks, like this:
According to commentator Jean Smith, “Life for many in the province has been increasingly difficult for nearly a decade . . .”
If the quotation would normally be introduced with a comma, use a comma when it’s presented as a block. The comma in your example is perfect, as is the capital L in “Life.”
Q. My author wants to know whether a comma is called for in constructions like the following, where a conjunction follows the dialogue tag but doesn’t introduce an independent clause: “It’s very clear,” she replied[,] and moved off to a nearby tree. I tend to think it’s needed but can’t articulate why. I also think it needs to be “she replied, and THEN moved off.” Can you help?
A. This is a common question. Normally, a comma wouldn’t be required before the conjunction in a sentence that features a compound predicate (see CMOS 6.23):
She replied and moved off to a nearby tree.
But in dialogue, a speaker tag is usually set off from a quotation by a comma; it makes sense that, by a similar logic, the speaker tag would also be set off from any action or other narration that occurs in the same sentence:
“It’s very clear,” she replied, and moved off to a nearby tree.
And that’s what we’d advise—unless your author favors a style that’s notably light on commas and asks that you leave commas like that one out. In either case, you could add then after and, as you suggest.
Or you could switch to the present participle for the action verb, in which case a comma would be required:
“It’s very clear,” she replied, moving off to a nearby tree.
If the sequence of events is important, add a word like before or while:
“It’s very clear,” she replied, before moving off to a nearby tree.
Whatever approach you use, aim for consistency across like contexts.
Q. I recently became aware that many sources insist one absolutely must use a comma after “said” to punctuate sentences like this one: She looked up and said, “Hi.” Is this really a universal rule? The more I look into it, the more I feel I’ve slipped into an alternate universe.
A. According to CMOS 13.40, common one-word utterances can usually be introduced without the help of a comma—and without quotation marks or an initial capital:
She looked up and said hi.
We told her no.
Don’t ask me why.
But when such words are presented as direct discourse—as in the dialogue of a novel or story—they are usually placed in quotation marks and set off by a comma, like any other quoted words of dialogue:
She looked up and said, “Hi.”
“Hi,” I replied, a little embarrassed by the echo.
This convention suggests that the word or words in quotation marks were literally spoken as written. But it can be awkward to put the speaker ahead of the quotation. To smooth things out, try reversing the order:
“Hi,” she said, looking up.
For some additional considerations, see “Is a Comma Needed to Introduce Dialogue” in Fiction+ at CMOS Shop Talk.
Q. I can’t get a consensus from fellow professional editors on how to punctuate the following sentence:
“So up there,” Joe pointed at the window, “that was you waving at me?”
Since there isn’t a dialogue tag, some say to use em dashes per CMOS 6.87.
However, I believe em dashes should be reserved for special emphasis, and pointing isn’t important. Changing the wording changes the author’s consistent writing style.
It’s obvious that Joe is speaking, so why would we need a dialogue tag as well as the action beat in order to use commas? Can’t we eliminate “said” if it’s clear who is speaking and only use the action beat?
Thank you very much for your help.
A. Your example is clear enough and will probably work for most readers. But it does break with convention, according to which commas used with narrative interruptions also require true speech tags. People don’t point words, they say them:
“So up there,” Joe said, pointing at the window, “that was you waving at me?”
If you want to leave out the speech tag, that same convention would require either em dashes or periods, because now the narrative interruption has lost its immediate connection to the spoken dialogue:
“So up there”—Joe pointed at the window—“that was you waving at me?”
or
“So up there.” Joe pointed at the window. “That was you waving at me?”
Otherwise, it’s not much better than either of these:
“So up there,” Joe pointed at the window.
or
Joe pointed at the window, “That was you waving at me?”
On the other hand, if the author’s style regularly features comma splices, your version is fine; through repetition, readers will catch on. If not, consider the alternatives.
Q. CMOS 6.65: “A colon may also be used to introduce a quotation or a direct but unquoted question, especially where the introduction constitutes a grammatically complete sentence.” MUST a colon be used or is a period after the introductory sentence also correct?
A. If it will be obvious to readers how the quotation fits with the surrounding text, a period can work just fine. If not, use a colon.
Jerzy was always talking about how she’s an astronaut. “I’ve been to the moon twice. I have the receipts.” We almost felt sorry for her.
Unprompted, Jerzy announced the reason for her recent absence: “I was on the moon. Again.” We didn’t know whether to be jealous or mad.
The colon is often the better choice; readers tend to appreciate such signals. But a period can be less insistent. Either one is correct.
Q. When a quotation is introduced with “According to So-and-So” or “As So-and-So said,” is the first word capitalized?
A. Full-sentence quotations introduced with “According to So-and-So” or “As So-and-So said,” just like quotations introduced with “So-and-So said” (or “wrote” or the like), usually begin with a capital letter. For example,
According to Gertrude Stein, “There is no there there.”
or
As Gertrude Stein once wrote, “There is no there there.”
but
Gertrude Stein once wrote that “there is no there there.”
In that last example, the words are incorporated into the syntax of the surrounding sentence, so the quotation begins lowercase.
Note that Stein’s words begin with a lowercase t in the original text, where they occur at the end of a characteristically long run-on sentence: “She took us to see her granddaughter who was teaching in the Dominican convent in San Raphael, we went across the bay on a ferry, that had not changed but Goat Island might just as well not have been there, anyway what was the use of my having come from Oakland it was not natural to have come from there yes write about it if I like or anything if I like but not there, there is no there there” (Everybody’s Autobiography [1937; Vintage Books, 1973], 289).
For more on capitalization in direct quotations, see CMOS 13.18–21.