Thereareatleastfourwaystointegratequotations.

1.Introducethequotationwithacompletesentenceandacolon.
Example:In"WhereILived,andWhatILivedFor,"Thoreaustatesdirectlyhispurposefor
goingintothewoods:"IwenttothewoodsbecauseIwishedtolivedeliberately,tofrontonly
theessentialfactsoflife,andseeifIcouldnotlearnwhatithadtoteach,andnot,whenIcame
todie,discoverthatIhadnotlived."
Example:Thoreau'sphilosophymightbesummedupbestbyhisrepeatedrequestforpeopleto
ignoretheinsignificantdetailsoflife:"Ourlifeisfritteredawaybydetail.Anhonestmanhas
hardlyneedtocountmorethanhistenfingers,orinextremecaseshemayaddhistentoes,and
lumptherest.Simplicity,simplicity,simplicity!"
Example:Thoreauendshisessaywithametaphor:"TimeisbutthestreamIgoafishingin."
Thisisaneasyruletoremember:ifyouuseacompletesentencetointroduceaquotation,you
needacolonafterthesentence.Becarefulnottoconfuseacolon
(:)
withasemicolon
()
.Using
acommainthissituationwillmostlikelycreateacommasplice,oneoftheserious
sentenceboundaryerrors.

2.Useanintroductoryorexplanatoryphrase,butnotacompletesentence,
separatedfromthequotationwithacomma.
Example:In"WhereILived,andWhatILivedFor,"Thoreaustatesdirectlyhispurposefor
goingintothewoodswhenhesays,"IwenttothewoodsbecauseIwishedtolivedeliberately,to
frontonlytheessentialfactsoflife,andseeifIcouldnotlearnwhatithadtoteach,andnot,
whenIcametodie,discoverthatIhadnotlived."
Example:Thoreausuggeststheconsequencesofmakingourselvesslavestoprogresswhenhe
says,"Wedonotrideontherailroaditridesuponus."
Example:Thoreauasks,"Whyshouldwelivewithsuchhurryandwasteoflife?"
Example:AccordingtoThoreau,"Wedonotrideontherailroaditridesuponus."
Youshoulduseacommatoseparateyourownwordsfromthequotationwhenyourintroductory
orexplanatoryphraseendswithaverbsuchas"says,""said,""thinks,""believes,""pondered,"
"recalls,""questions,"and"asks"(andmanymore).Youshouldalsouseacommawhenyou
introduceaquotationwithaphrasesuchas"AccordingtoThoreau."

3.Makethequotationapartofyourownsentencewithoutanypunctuation
betweenyourownwordsandthewordsyouarequoting.

Example:In"WhereILived,andWhatILivedFor,"Thoreaustatesdirectlyhispurposefor
goingintothewoodswhenhesaysthat"IwenttothewoodsbecauseIwishedtolive
deliberately,tofrontonlytheessentialfactsoflife,andseeifIcouldnotlearnwhatithadto
teach,andnot,whenIcametodie,discoverthatIhadnotlived."
Example:Thoreausuggeststheconsequencesofmakingourselvesslavestoprogresswhenhe
saysthat"Wedonotrideontherailroaditridesuponus."
Example:Thoreauarguesthat"shamsanddelusionsareesteemedforsoundesttruths,while
realityisfabulous."
Example:AccordingtoThoreau,peoplearetoooften"thrownoffthetrackbyeverynutshelland
mosquito'swingthatfallsontherails."
Noticethattheword"that"isusedinthreeoftheexamplesabove,andwhenitisusedasitisin
theexamples,"that"replacesthecommawhichwouldbenecessarywithout"that"inthe
sentence.Youusuallyhaveachoice,then,whenyoubeginasentencewithaphrasesuchas
"Thoreausays."Youeithercanaddacommaafter"says"(Thoreausays,"quotation")oryoucan
addtheword"that"withnocomma(Thoreausaysthat"quotation.")

4.Useshortquotationsonlyafewwordsaspartofyourownsentence.
Example:In"WhereILived,andWhatILivedFor,"Thoreaustatesthathisretreattothewoods
aroundWaldenPondwasmotivatedbyhisdesire"tolivedeliberately"andtofaceonly"the
essentialfactsoflife."
Example:Thoreauarguesthatpeopleblindlyaccept"shamsanddelusions"asthe"soundest
truths,"whileregardingrealityas"fabulous."
Example:AlthoughThoreau"drink[s]at"thestreamofTime,hecan"detecthowshallowitis."
Whenyouintegratequotationsinthisway,youdonotuseanyspecialpunctuation.Instead,you
shouldpunctuatethesentencejustasyouwouldifallofthewordswereyourown.No
punctuationisneededinthesentencesaboveinpartbecausethesentencesdonotfollowthe
patternexplainedundernumber1and2above:thereisnotacompletesentenceinfrontofthe
quotations,andawordsuchas"says,""said,"or"asks"doesnotappeardirectlyinfrontofthe
quotedwords.
Allofthemethodsaboveforintegratingquotationsarecorrect,butyoushouldavoidrelyingtoo
muchonjustonemethod.Youshouldinsteaduseavarietyofmethods.

NoticethePunctuation!

Noticethatthereareonlytwopunctuationmarksthatareusedtointroducequotations:the
commaandthecolon
(:)
.Notethatasemicolon
()
is
not
usedtointroducequotations.
Noticeaswellthepunctuationofthesentencesaboveinrelationtothequotations.Ifthereareno
parentheticalcitationsinthesentences(noauthor'snameandpagenumberinparentheses),the
commasandperiodsgo
inside
thefinalquotationmark("likethis.").Forwhateverreason,thisis
thewaywedoitinAmerica.InEngland,though,thecommasandperiodsgooutsideofthefinal
punctuationmark.
Semicolonsandcolonsgooutsideofthefinalquotationmark("likethis").
Questionmarksandexclamationpointsgooutsideofthefinalquotationmarkifthepunctuation
markispartofyoursentenceyourquestionoryourexclamation("likethis"?).Thosemarksgo
insideofthefinalquotationmarkiftheyareapartoftheoriginalthewriter'squestionor
exclamation("likethis!").

TheProperPunctuation:KeepingitSimple
Rememberingjustafewsimplerulescanhelpyouusethecorrectpunctuationasyouintroduce
quotations.Therearesomeexceptionstotherulesbelow,buttheyshouldhelpyouusethe
correctpunctuationwithquotationsmostofthetime.

Rule1
:Completesentence
:
"quotation"(Ifyouuseacompletesentencetointroducea
quotation,useacolon(
:
)justbeforethequotation.)

Example:
Thoreauendshisessaywithametaphor:"TimeisbutthestreamIgoafishingin"(24).

Rule2
:Someonesays
,
"quotation"(Ifthewordjustbeforethequotationisaverb
indicatingsomeoneutteringthequotedwords,useacomma.Examplesincludethewords
"says,""said,""states,""asks,"and"yells."Butrememberthatthereisnopunctuationif
theword"that"comesjustbeforethequotation,asin"thenarratorsaysthat.")

Example:
Thoreauasks,"Whyshouldwelivewithsuchhurryandwasteoflife?"(85).

Rule3
:IfRules1and2donotapply,donotuseanypunctuationbetweenyourwords
andthequotedwords.Yourquotationshouldbeworkedseamlesslyintoyoursentence.
Donotcapitalizethefirstletterifitisworkedseamlesslyintoyoursentence.

Example:
Thoreauarguesthat"shamsanddelusionsareesteemedforsoundesttruths,whilerealityis
fabulous"(31).

Andrememberthatasemicolon(

)neverisusedtointroducequotations.

Copyright
RandyRambo
,2006.
http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/quotes.htm