Saying.

[tufguy]

As we have told you many times before, you must capitalise the first word of a complete sentence inside quotation marks.

But I was told that only proper nouns should be capitalised. Is "you" a proper noun?

 

[tufguy]

As we have told you many times before, you must capitalise the first word of a complete sentence inside quotation marks.

) He refused to help me, saying I was not his friend.

2) He refused to help me, saying "You are not my friend".

 

[Tarheel]

) He refused to help me, saying I was not his friend. :tick:

2) He refused to help me, saying "You are not my friend".

I would put the period (full stop) inside the quote marks in the second one. (Some might disagree.)

 

[5jj]

It goes outside the quote in BrE.

 

[Tdol]

But I was told that only proper nouns should be capitalised. Is "you" a proper noun?

No one told you to capitalise the first word of a sentence? Also, capitalisation is flexible- the user can decide that something is important enough to require a capital- do we say a Big Mac and fries or a Big Mac and Fries?.

 

[emsr2d2]

But I was told that only proper nouns should be capitalised. Is "you" a proper noun?

Nonsense. I have pointed out many times that you must capitalise the first word of a complete sentence inside quotation marks. It follows the same rules as capitalising the first word of a normal sentence.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I would put the period (full stop) inside the quote marks in the second one. (Some might disagree.)

That's American English. In British English, it goes after.

I think Tuf prefers British English.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

) He refused to help me, saying I was not his friend.

2) He refused to help me, saying "You are not my friend".

Do you see the difference? With no comma, it means he would not help you saying. That makes no sense. With a comma, it means he told you why he would not help.

Personally, I would also add a second comma to #2. (Hint: The quotation comes after an independent clause.)

 

[Tarheel]

That's American English. In British English, it goes after.

I think Tuf prefers British English.

It gets more confusing all the time.
:-?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It gets more confusing all the time.
:-?

There's a really dumb reason. Back in the days of letterpress and moveable type, American typesetters noticed that their type slugs sometimes broke when they put commas and periods after quotation marks. For some reason. No one anywhere else had this problem. Go figure.

Anyhow, to solve this dire situation, they started putting commas and periods before quotation marks no matter what. By the time offset printing was invented, the habit was too ingrained to break.

 

[tufguy]

That's American English. In British English, it goes after.

I think Tuf prefers British English.

No it is not true. Both are okay for me. There is only a slight difference in a few things. English is English. I like both the versions.

 

[Tarheel]

No it is not true. Both are okay for me. There is only a slight difference in a few things. English is English. I like both [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] versions.

OK.

 

[Tdol]

There's a really dumb reason. Back in the days of letterpress and moveable type, American typesetters noticed that their type slugs sometimes broke when they put commas and periods after quotation marks. For some reason. No one anywhere else had this problem. Go figure.

So British slugs are better? ;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

So British slugs are better? ;-)

I hear their bare-knuckle slugs are murder.