Quotation Rules

1. Begin quotations with a capital letter.

2. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and tells something, place a comma after the quote, before the closing quotation mark. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and tells something, place the comma after the person who spoke, before the opening quotation mark.
Ex: "You misunderstand me," said the cob.
The cob said, "You misunderstand me."

3. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and asks something, place the question mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and asks something, place the question mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.
Ex: "Do you understand?" he asked.
He asked, "Do you understand?"

4. If the quote comes before the person who spoke and shows strong emotion, place the exclamation mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark. If the quote comes after the person who spoke and asks something, place the exclamation mark after the quote, before the closing quotation mark.
Ex: "Well!" said the cob.
The cob said, "Well!"

5. A quote separated by the person who spoke is called a split quotation. Begin the first part of a split quotation with a capital letter, and end with a comma. Begin the second part of a split quotation with a lower case letter. Enclose both parts of the split quotation with quotation marks.
Ex: "Tomorrow," said the cob, "we will visit my friends."