The Waiting Room, August 08 Contribution

[Tallyman]

Originally Posted by Mantaspook View Post

 

Towards the end of the story we see this:

 

["I'm sorry I wasn't here," said Simon.]

 

In this case, because we don't return to Simon's speech, the trailing comma should definitely have been a full stop.

 

(Sauerkraut): Can't agree on that, I'm afraid! My comma stays!

 

I couldn't see anything in your link on it unfortunately but in any case it's an American website and quotation marks are one of the areas where they differ most from British grammar anyhow.

 

At the risk of being lambasted by Mantaspook (), I'm afraid I'm with SK on this one. My feeling is that a comma is correct if the sentence continues, even if that's beyond the closing quote marks. The only time a full stop should appear before closing quotes is if that's the last word of the sentence, most likely before the start of a new paragraph. If the example above used a full stop, the 'said Simon' would be separated from the speech he had just made, rather than linked to it.

 

Thus:

 

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," said Simon. is correct

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," said Simon. "The bus was running late." is correct

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," said Simon, "but that bus was late again." is correct

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." is correct

 

BUT

 

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." said Simon. just doesn't feel right! You're faced with a quandary over putting a small or capital 's' in 'said', and you've disconnected Simon from his speech. I think the sentence ends after 'Simon', and that's where the full stop goes.

 

Sorry Mantas, don't be too mad at me!!