Page 1060 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

5. This milk is expired. I should throw it away said Tom.

Split Quotations

Some direct quotations are split quotations. Here are two rules for

splitting quotations.

1. When you split a sentence, use commas to set off the tag (such

as she said) that tells who said or thought the words you are

quoting.

“If I’ve missed the bus,” thought Alexandra, “I’ll have to

walk.”
2. When there is a complete sentence before and a complete

sentence after the tag, put a comma after the first sentence and

a period after the tag.

“There’s nothing good on TV,” said Rick. “Let’s go for a

walk around the neighborhood.”

Practice 29-2 Using Quotation Marks with Split

Quotations

Following the models above, place quotation marks around each of

the direct quotations and add commas where they are needed.