Hello,
If you have quotation marks which end with an exclamation mark should you then follow on with a capital letter?
For example, which of the below is correct?
"I'm sick of this place!" Screamed John.
OR
"I'm sick of this place!" screamed John.
Any help much appreciated.
Sarah
If you have quotation marks which end with an exclamation mark should you then follow on with a capital letter?
For example, which of the below is correct?
"I'm sick of this place!" Screamed John.
OR
"I'm sick of this place!" screamed John.
Any help much appreciated.
Sarah
You don't need to capitalize "screamed" in your example. The same would be true following a question mark.
(But,) John screamed, "Take this thing out of here!"
By the way, thanks for joining us, Sarah. Welcome to English Forums! [F] And Happy New Year! [<:o)]
Best wishes, - A.
(But,) John screamed, "Take this thing out of here!"
By the way, thanks for joining us, Sarah. Welcome to English Forums! [F] And Happy New Year! [<:o)]
Best wishes, - A.
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Comments
Why would there be a reason to capitalize it sometimes and not others.
Thanks for your response.
As I understand it, reported speech is usually a sentence within a sentence, and both of them must begin with capital letters.
"No!", he said.
He said, "No!"
I suppose "No!" isn't actually much of a sentence, but in a dialogue it would certainly be capitalized:
John: Will you help me?
Betty: No!
"Take them away!", he said. (This whole thing is a sentence, and begins with a capital.)
What he said is also a sentence, and begins with a capital: "Take them away!"
The capital "T" serves both sentences.
But when you reverse the order, the situation changes:
He said, "Take them away!"
Capital "T" begins one sentence and capital "H" begins the other.
Best wishes, - A.
My question is, what if the sentence is structured like this:
Poor John! in midst of strangers, trying to look for a known face...
Here, should the 'in' be with a capital 'I' or a small 'i'. This is taken from a book written in the first person.
Would greatly appreciate a response.
Thanks,
Roopa.
Since "in" doesn't begin a new sentence, there's no real reason to capitalize it.
I often see exclamatory remarks begun with a capital, even though they're not sentences.
I think your example could be considered as all one exclamatory remark, with the portion which follows your exclamation point being considered an appositive for "John."
The first one after punctuation come capital