ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Comma after this quote??

Clive — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:52:11 GMT

Hi,

It depends on the context that the whole comment fits into, the scenario if you will. For example, perhaps she is dead now, perhaps not. We don't know.

Clive

Re: Comma after this quote??

Yoong Liat — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:29:37 GMT

The quote "Romance at short notice was her specialty" shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these. (To me, this sentence is correct.)

The quote, "Romance at short notice was her specialty" shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these. (This sentence is wrong because there is only one comma after 'quote'.)

The quote, "Romance at short notice was her specialty", shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these. (This sentence is correct because there are two commas.)

IMO, the sentence is correct without commas or with two commas. If there is only one comma as shown above, the sentence is incorrect.

Re: Comma after this quote??

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:27:32 GMT

Shouldn't the verb be:

The quote, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," shows that she was rather skilled at making up stories like these.

Re: Comma after this quote??

Philip — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:07:42 GMT

See? I told you others would disagree!

Re: Comma after this quote??

Hoa Thai — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:50:12 GMT

Hi,

I prefer to keep the sentence as is. If we surround the quoted element with commas, the appositive becomes non-restrictive. However, the writer needs to restrict the meaning of The quote. Otherwise, once they've read entire sentence, readers still don't know which quote / statement the writer means."

In contrast, in the sentence "Norman Mailer's first novel, 'The naked and the Dead', was best seller," we can remove the non-restrictive appositive and would not affect the meaning of the sentence.

Re: Comma after this quote??

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:42:43 GMT

Hi,

I prefer to keep the sentence as is. If we surround the quoted element with commas, the appositive would become non-restrictive. However, the writer needs to restrict the meaning of The quote. Otherwise, once they've read entire sentence, readers still don't know which quote / statement the writer means.

Re: Comma after this quote??

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:17:57 GMT

Thank you SO much! You have no clue how much you have helped me!

-Caitlin

Re: Comma after this quote??

Clive — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:08:17 GMT

Hi,

Where would the commas be (if any) in this sentence?

-- The quote "Romance at short notice was her specialty" shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these.

The term 'quote' is an informal versionof the word 'quotation'. I suggest that you use the full form, since you want to make your sentence as correct as possible.

The quotation, "Romance at short notice was her specialty", shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these.

Better yet, why say it is a quotation when that is evident from the fact that you are quoting it? I prefer something like this.Her remark/comment/statement, "Romance at short notice was her specialty", shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Comma after this quote??

Philip — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:02:30 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

Where would the commas be (if any) in this sentence?

-- The quote "Romance at short notice was her specialty" shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these.

Thanks!

My inclination is to use the comma before and after the quotes. Some may disagree, and I can live with that.

Comma after this quote??

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:00:43 GMT

Where would the commas be (if any) in this sentence?

-- The quote "Romance at short notice was her specialty" shows that she is rather skilled at making up stories like these.

Thanks!