Q. I have a question concerning the use of brackets. In the sentence below, taken from an NPR article, what purpose do the brackets
serve? “In almost two years, we find about 31 percent of papers with unreasonable copy[ing] and plagiarism,”
she says, shaking her head.
A. The brackets indicate that the writer of the article altered or inserted something in order to make sense of the sentence.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I typed out a transcript of a video online to use in a paper. The lecturer says “uh”
several times. Should I include these in my quotation or remove them?
A. Some transcribers include such noises; others edit them out. If coughs and stutters are irrelevant to your point, it’s
better (and kinder) to omit them, but if you omit anything potentially meaningful, you should include a note with the transcript
explaining your method.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m looking for the etched-in-stone rule that states that a dialogue tag should be lowercase after
a question (i.e., “What is it?” she asked, as opposed to “What
is it?” She asked). I have both the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style and the trial online version here and have so far been unable to find it. Any help is appreciated.
A. The rule is fundamental: If a word continues a sentence, lowercase it (unless it’s a proper name).
If a word begins a new sentence, uppercase the first letter. Thus, if “She” is
capped after a quotation (as it sometimes is), it signals a new sentence: “What is it?”
She asked three times before she gave up.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Although CMOS 6.9 states clearly that commas and periods should always go within quotation marks, it doesn’t provide a solution when you have to put the single and double quotation marks together, as in “He announced, ‘These quotation marks look terrible.’” Is there a prescribed amount of space that goes between the single and double quotes in these cases?
A. Please see CMOS 6.11: “When single quotation marks are nested within double quotation marks, and two of the marks appear next to each other, a space between the two marks, though not strictly required, aids legibility.” (You can find this by typing “single quotation marks” into the Search box or by looking in the index under “Quotation marks: single: double next to.”)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do you handle text-message content? Is it put in quotation marks or do you use italics?
A. A message is a message, whether it comes from a book, an interview, lipstick on a mirror, or your phone. Use quotation marks
to quote.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Lots of questions here seem to boil down to a choice between rigorous consistency and a pleasing typographic appearance.
Here’s another one. I was wondering about double quotation marks when shortening an article title in
a footnote. If the full title of the article is “‘Un bell’oratorio
all’uso di Roma’: Patronage and Secular Context of the Oratorio in Baroque Rome,”
should I leave the double quotation marks when giving the short title, i.e., “‘Un
bell’oratorio all’uso di Roma’”? It
looks a bit silly, this doubly enshrined title. I would appreciate your take on this!
A. Yes, in the case of a title, use both double and single marks to make it clear that it’s a quotation.
This is in contrast to using only one set when excerpting quoted speech from an original source. For instance, if Alice says,
“The next question is, ‘Who in the world am I?’”
and we want to quote part of that, it’s sufficient to write that Alice asks, “Who
in the world am I?”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I teach my students to keep the capitalization used in the original text when quoting in a paper or to indicate with brackets
when the original text has been changed. I also tell them to alter the original casing to mesh into their sentences. However,
examples in some English grammar books maintain the capitalization on poetry, even when meshing into a writer’s
sentence, e.g., “Frost writes of the separation of ‘Two roads.’ ”
Is this correct, or should it be “the separation of ‘[t]wo roads’ ”?
A. Both methods are common. If readers see that capitalization does not mesh with the syntax of a sentence, or that brackets
are used, they have a clue as to the original casing. If the casing happens to mesh, the reader has no way to know whether
it’s been edited. If you’re preparing a paper where the issue is important (literary,
linguistic, or legal), you should explain your system in a note or preface. In most documents, however, overattention to such
matters merely bogs down the reader, and it’s normal practice to quietly change the casing to fit one’s
own syntax.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m working on a manuscript where the author starts many block quotes with lowercase words. Is this
okay?
A. Yes. It’s a service to readers to use whichever case fits with the text that introduces the quotation.
In legal or technical writing, linguistics, or literary criticism, though, the original casing might have significance, in
which case you must retain it.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Microsoft Word just suggested I change “What do you mean ‘unfortunately?’ ” to “What do you mean ‘unfortunately’?” Should I tell Word to leave me alone, or am I mistaken in believing that, in American English, quotation marks envelop all neighboring punctuation?
A. Ah, you are mistaken. You must not include question marks and exclamation marks within the quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation. (Please see CMOS 6.70.) But since MS Word can’t possibly divine the original quotation, yes, you may tell it to leave you alone.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m in the process of editing a nonfiction book about a murder trial that took place in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, in 1983. I need to know whether courtroom testimony that the author quotes from the public record—and
has set inside quotation marks—must be reproduced precisely as it was transcribed in the courtroom (except
for elisions and paraphrases of testimony not set in quotes).
A. Yes, if it’s quoted from the public record, it should be reproduced precisely. If the author has reason
to think that the transcription is misleading or faulty, she can say so, either by interpolation or by comments outside the
quotation.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]