What are the punctuation rules for two pieces of direct speech in a single sentence?

Question

Please help me with the punctuation rules for sentences with two pieces of direct speech within quotes, with the following as example. > “It’s fun to get out on a Sunday and race,” said Stanley. “Our team > always wins a prize .” Stanley has been racing bikes since college. I have the following confusions: 1. Should there be a full-stop after first occurrence of "Stanley" or a comma or en-dash/em-dash? 2. Is it okay to capitalize "Our" in "Our team", given that the second direct speech is a complete sentence in itself, rather than a continuation of the first direct speech? 3. As per US English rules, is a comma more appropriate after "and race" or a full-stop? 4. Since a new sentence starts after "prize", should the full-stop after that come after the closing quote or before it? 5. If a comma is used after "and race" at the end of the first direct speech, shouldn't it be used after the second direct speech as well for consistency? (I know it sounds odd, but I am looking for the rigorous rule governing this) I tried searching online for rules regarding two pieces of direct speech, but found nothing. It would be helpful if you can also share some links where I can learn more about all these on my own, especially in cases where en-dash, em-dash and colons are used in sentences involving direct speech.

Answer 1

Your writing is correct as is: "It's fun to get out on a Sunday and race," said Stanley. "Our team always wins a prize."

You always put the comma before the quotation marks unless you are quoting somebody or something (versus writing dialogue) within a sentence--in which case you put the correct punctuation mark after the quotation marks.

I hope that answers your question.

Answer 2

Hello,

Your sentence:

"It's fun to get out on a Sunday and race," said Stanley. "Our team always wins a prize."

has the correct punctuation.

I'm confused about the part after the quote from Stanley:

Stanley has been racing bikes since college.

Do you want that to complement the quote?

More on using quotation marks:

https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Help with en- and em-dash punctuation: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/english_as_a_second_language/esl_students/punctuation/hyphens_and_dashes.html

Help with punctuating with the colon:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/english_as_a_second_language/esl_students/punctuation/semicolons_colons_and_parentheses.html

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

Hi:

I'll take these questions one at a time. As a reminder, signal phrases are used to introduce quotes, and can be moved around in the sentence.

1. If you want this signal phrase ("said Stanley") here, then yes, you need a full-stop or period after it to separate the independent clauses. An alternative would be to move the signal phrase to the start of the sentence, as such: Stanley said, "It's fun to get out on a Sunday and race; our team always wins a prize." In the latter example, you can use a period or semi-colon (or em-dash) after "race."
2. If you want to keep the signal phrase here, it must be followed by a period. A period, in turn, must be followed by a capital letter. So yes, you will need to capitalize the first word here, even if it's a continuation of the quote.
3. In both UK and US English, "race" must be followed by a comma. You cannot have a period here, followed by said [or Said] Stanley, since the signal phrase is a part of the same sentence.
4. In US English, final punctuation goes inside of quotes: ... always wins a prize." Or, with a different example, Stanley said, "Did we win the prize?" In UK English, the punctuation typically goes outside of the quotes.
5. A comma is used with "and race" in the first sentence because the quote is immediately followed by the signal phrase. You don't have a signal phrase in the second sentence, so a period is the right choice here.

For general rules regarding punctuation, you should consult a writing manual such as Strunk & White's "Elements of Style":

http://users.stat.ufl.edu/~presnell/Various/Strunk-and-White/etes_htm.htm

There aren't any special rules regarding the use of en or em-dashes or colons and direct speech. In general, if SP = signal phrase and QU = quoted text, it should be punctuated like this:

SP, "QU."

"QU," SP.

Or you can put the signal phrase between a quote, like this:

"QU," SP, "QU."

In this last example, the entire quote must be a single complete sentence; in your example above, the quoted material comprises more than one sentence, obviously.

Answer 4

1. Yes, because this is the end of a complete sentence.
2. Yes, because this is the beginning of a new sentence.
3. Yes, the comma is appropriate after "and race" because "said Stanley" is part of the same sentence.
4. No, a period always goes inside the quotation marks unless you are using an in-text citation.
5. No, because the second direct speech is a complete sentence that does not continue after the closing quotation mark.

It's possible the reason you have difficulty finding rules on this is that written dialogue tends to be covered more in the realm of creative writing than standard grammar rules, I noticed some helpful rules here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/index.html