Q. Is it permissible to modify the verb tenses in a quotation to fit the grammatical and/or aesthetic structure of a sentence, presuming that the meaning of the original is not otherwise altered?
A. This is not permissible unless you show your changes in brackets:
Sherman asked whether he could alter the verb tenses “presuming that the meaning of the original [was] not otherwise altered.”
You can read about this use of brackets at CMOS 13.12 and 13.60. (For other kinds of permitted changes to quotations, see 13.7–8.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In a dialogue tag after a question or an exclamation (e.g., “What did you say?” she asked), should the initial letter of the tag be capitalized (“What did you say?” She asked) or should it remain lowercase?
A. Because the tag comes in the middle of the sentence, it should be lowercased. It should be capped if it begins a new sentence. For example,
“What did you say?” She asked the question in a tone that made my blood freeze.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We have a quotation from a book source, just two sentences, and the author has taken the first part of the quote from page 5 and the second part of the quote from page 4, and she includes a 4-dot ellipse in the middle to indicate missing text. How do we source that? Do we write “pages 4–5” in the note? Or perhaps “5, 4” to indicate that it’s out of order? I’m hoping you won’t tell me to do two different notes or rewrite . . . and that you won’t correct the run-on sentence above. (:
A. This type of quoting misrepresents the original text by changing the order of the sentences. It is a misquotation. You must either make two different quotes or rewrite! You can use the same note to source the two quotations, however, listing the page numbers in the order they are quoted from: 5, 4. (We’ll give you a pass on the run-on sentence.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How should text message conversations be styled within a story to distinguish them from normal dialogue? I already use italics for internal thoughts, and it might be confusing to use the same technique for text messages. I also use quotes with italics when a character is thinking about another person’s dialogue. Would reading a text message be akin to that? Or can I just make up something completely different (e.g., < how r u >)?
A. Unless a designer wants to create a special typography for text messages (as is sometimes done in books for children and young adults), just use quotation marks. It’s never been considered necessary to have a separate style for phone conversations, email, or other types of communication, and texts are nothing new in this regard. The context should make it clear: “how r u,” he texted; “ha ha Daddy I can’t believe you use ‘r u,’” she replied.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We are using quotes from community leaders who have supported our project over the years. Last year the name of the project changed from the Trinity Uptown Project to the Panther Island Project, and we are updating all materials to reflect that. One of the quotes from a community leader (who is now deceased) uses the term “Trinity Uptown.” What would be the proper way to amend that to show that the project is now called Panther Island while the original quote used the term Trinity Uptown?
A. You can use brackets in the quote to replace the words that are now wrong: Mayor Green said, “The [Panther Island] Project is terrific.” Or you can put an editor’s comment in square brackets: Mayor Green said, “The Trinity Uptown [now Panther Island] Project is terrific.” Or you can paraphrase: Mayor Green called the project “terrific.” You can also use the original quote as it is if it’s clear elsewhere that the name has changed.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I need help with the placement of double, single, double quotes in a short quotation (it can’t be an extract, which would solve the problem nicely). Here’s the sentence: “This book uses Alfred North Whitehead’s definition of concrescence as ‘the name for the process in which the universe of many things acquires an individual unity in a determinate relegation of each item of the “many” to its subordination in the constitution of the novel “one.”’” I feel like that last bit can’t possibly be correct: it’s double quotes around the last word (one), followed by the single quote mark that closes the inner quote, followed by the double quote mark that closes the outer quote. You say . . . ?
A. Believe it or not, that’s right! However, instead of using a block quotation, it’s often possible to avoid quotation mark pileups by paraphrasing the framing quotation: Her book adopts Alfred North Whitehead’s definition of concrescence: “the name . . .”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can you clarify when a comma should be used before a quote, especially following the word read or said? For example, “Newspaper headlines read, ‘People Are Angry’ and ‘Crime Abounds’” versus “Newspaper headlines read ‘People Are Angry’ and ‘Crime Abounds.’”
A. The use of a comma to introduce a quotation is generally a matter of tradition rather than strict logic. That is, it is optional grammatically, but in most contexts readers expect it to follow said and various other dialogue tags. A comma indicates that the quoted material is seen as syntactically independent from the surrounding text. A quote that is seen more clearly as the direct object of a speaking verb, however, does not need a comma: He wrote “Yes” in large letters.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In my dissertation, I cite a volume of letters in which the editor has inserted square brackets for clarification. So, for example, one passage reads: “Winston, Tito, Ben Gurion, Uncle Joe [Stalin], Bullitt, De Gaulle.” When I’m quoting the letter I’d like to add my own bracketed clarification to Bullitt’s name, but how do I distinguish it from the original editorial matter? CMOS specifies that I should clarify whether editorial insertions are original, but surely there is some method that would save me from having to specify the status of each individual bracket in footnotes.
A. There’s no need for footnotes; just add your initials to your own bracketed insertions [like this —CB].
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When I proofread, I am often requested to list the corrections in a note. An example of a note is: I recommend deleting “a querulous comment”. I put the period outside the closing quotation mark. I think what I’m reading in CMOS 6.9 would make my punctuation incorrect. Am I correct in this assumption?
A. No. Assuming that you want the editor to delete the words “a querulous comment” and nothing more—not even the period that follows—your punctuation is correct. Ignore the guideline in CMOS; common sense must prevail. You are trying to convey what should be deleted, and you must not put anything within the quotation marks unless you want it deleted. Given the nature of your list, you may wish to avoid end punctuation so the issue becomes moot.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How does one punctuate dialogue in which one character interrupts another in the middle of a word? The writer whose work I’m editing has used a hyphen followed by an ellipsis, which looks awful to me: “I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an expe- . . .”
A. The conventional punctuation is a dash: “I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an expe—”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]