How to Use a Comma to End Most Direct Quotes
Beginning in elementary school and throughout your academic life, you will find it necessary to use quotations in term papers and research papers. Professional people, such as lawyers and supervisors, also use quotations and quotation marks in their professional papers. Writers, whether of fiction or nonfiction, also make use of quotations in their works. Using quotations correctly in sentences means learning how to use other forms of punctuation, such as commas, in your writing.
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Instructions
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Write the following sentence: "I'll be studying in my room said Mandy." Quotation marks are supposed to be used in pairs to set off exact quotes.
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Insert a comma right after the direct quote and before the ending quotation mark -- "I'll be studying in my room," said Mandy. Because the exact quotation came before the person and it tells something, the comma sets the quote off from the rest of the sentence.
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Place a comma before the ending quotation mark for longer quotes that surround the speaker. "If you don't pay the money you owe," stated Randy, "I'm taking you to small claims court."
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Write direct multisentence quotations as one paragraph with no indentations only when the entire quotation comes from the same person. Don't attribute more than one time in that paragraph.
Read this example: "I applied for a $5,000 scholarship from the Scripps-Howard Foundation," said Anne. "If I win, it'll help with books, equipment and any fees."
Anne said something about applying for a scholarship, and it ended with a comma before the closing quotation mark. Anne started a new sentence that ended with a period before the closing quotation mark.
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Tips & Warnings
When you write quotes, separate them from the rest of your sentence so it is clear who is speaking and which part of the sentence is the quotation.
References
Resources
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