Rules to follow when incorporating quotations…
NEVER BEGIN A SENTENCE WITH ELLIPSES DOTS.
NEVER BEGIN A SENTENCE WITH A LOWER-CASE LETTER.
- Never do: “. . . slavery in America had lingering effects.”
- Never do: “. . . Slavery in America had lingering effects.”
- Do: “[S]lavery in America had lingering effects.” (formal method)
- Do: “Slavery in America had lingering effects.” (informal method)
BE CAREFUL W/CAPITALIZATION WHEN USING THE START OF A SENTENCE IN A QUOTE.
Assuming the original quote was: “The courts had no choice but to void the statute.”
- Never do: The judges knew that “The courts had no choice but to void the statute.”
- Do: The judges knew that “the courts had no choice but to void the statute.”
- Do: The judges acknowledged, “The courts had no choice but to void the statute.”
A simple rule:
VERB + “That” = NO COMMA + LOWER CASE
VERB ONLY = COMMA + CAPITAL
e.g., The president warned that “war is inevitable.”
e.g., The president warned, “War is inevitable.”
The not-so-simple rule for the same situation? If the sentence and quotation are syntactically dependent = no comma. If the sentence and quotation are not syntactically dependent = comma and capital.
ELLIPSES DOTS ARE USED TO OMIT UNNEEDED PUNCTUATION.
- Never do: “There is never enough time, . . . , to enjoy life.”
- Do: “There is never enough time . . . to enjoy life.”
ELLIPSES DOTS ARE NOT USED WITH OBVIOUSLY INCOMPLETE QUOTATION SENTENC
- Never do: They struggled “. . . diligently and fairly successfully. . . .”
- Do: They struggled “diligently and fairly successfully.”
WHEN AN ELLIPSIS ENDS A SENTENCE, USE BOTH ELLIPSES DOTS AND A PERIOD.
ALL FOUR DOTS MUST GO INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS.
- Do: Historians believe that “northerners faced an intriguing paradox . . . .”
BRACKETS (NOT PARENTHESES) ARE USED TO MAKE CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO QUOTATIONS
- Do: “The king believe[d] in absolute power.”
- Do: “The protesters [were] determined.”
- Do: “The experience of [American] slavery had deep effects.”
- Do: She warned that, “not knowing the solution[,] they were likely to take a misstep.”
- Do: “[He] wanted absolute power.”
- Do: “The general [Anderson] took control of the battle.”
- Do: “The war [of 1812] was a period of trauma and triumph.
USE [SIC] TO INDICATE THAT A QUOTATION HAS AN ERROR IN IT.
- Do: “Senator Edmund [sic] Kennedy was the heart of the opposition.”
- Do: He asserted that “the rule is outragious [sic].”
- Do: She argues that “the Mexican war of 1847 [sic] was immoral.”
BASIC TYPING RULES:
(1) SPACE BETWEEN ELLIPSIS DOTS.
Never do: She announced that “the war … was over.”
Do: She announced that “the war . . . was over.”
(2) DO NOT SPLIT ELLIPSIS DOTS. ALL MUST BE ON THE SAME LINE.
