By Paragraphs, Colons

thanks

I sat there in anticipation of how she might respond. Perhaps I had pushed her too far, destroying my chances of the relationship I so desperately sought. She looked at me, then spoke. "I've always thought that about you," she said, meekly. Your example is correct.

Yes, so in my last example, it was correct to end "spoke" with a period instead of a colon, as there's the dialog paragraph next?thanks

End the prior paragraph with a period/full stop. Start the quote on the new line. (This does not apply if the last line of the paragraph is "And then he said,"... or something like that. You have to conclude the prior thought, and then start the quote.) In your last example, you have a "she...

Yes, so my question was, if you choose the former, to start a new paragraph which begins with the dialog, would the last sentence in the paragraph before the dialog end with a colon, or are you saying you need to start the next paragraph with that last sentence? I'd prefer to use it as the last...

In that situation, you would start a new paragraph, or rewrite slightly. ... She looked at me, then said meekly, "I've always thought that..."

I see what you mean, and I don't mean to be picky, but I was thinking more of situations where you have a preceeding paragraph, which at the end, ends with the sentence. I sat there in anticipation of how she might respond. Perhaps I had pushed her too far, destroying my chances of the...

No, you don't put a comma on the end of a paragraph. You attach the direct quote directly after the comma, without starting a new paragraph for that quote. The next person to talk gets a new paragraph. Jenny was confused, and asked, "What do you mean?" "I mean, there's no need for the colon," I...

Thank you for your reply.However, I am curious, you are saying it is correct to put a comma at the end of a paragraph?

With a direct quote (using the " " marks), use the comma, at least in U.S. style. She said, "Aren't you coming with me?" Your second two examples are not direct quotes, so the colon is okay.