SOS! Sentence structure...period or comma???

[jo555]

So confusing??? Next time I may look to pay someone for this...my rear end is suffering from all this sitting in front of computer...

Is there a correct way or are both acceptable (the larger font is the area I am looking for help)? See below:

1. Reuben quickly turned to Brian and sternly addressed him, “This is my boy, until you have spent yourself loving, caring, and providing for him you keep your mouth shut!

2. Reuben quickly turned to Brian and sternly addressed him. “This is my boy, until you have spent yourself loving, caring, and providing for him you keep your mouth shut!

Next:

Alex continued, "I knew that would happen...
Alex continued. "I knew that would happen...

Think there was one more but forgot it...oh well...hopefully it wasn't important.

[jo555]

Ok, remembered the other...may look the same but I see what may be a difference.

1. Sarah's eyes filled with tears, "I don't know what to say?"

2. Sarah's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know what to say?"

1. Alex shook his head, “No, just see that they’ve cooled off and settled down before you send them on their way so they don’t do anything stupid.”

2. Alex shook his head. “No, just see that they’ve cooled off and settled down before you send them on their way so they don’t do anything stupid.”

Ok, I really think this is the last tidbit of info I will need for this book to be complete.

Awaiting a response............trying to do it patiently.............oh, well, at least it will give my rear end a rest if I need to use the brakes for a bit until I hear back.

Thank you and God bless you for your patience and help.
And me is grateful.

[glorybee]

I hope Ann doesn't mind if I pop in here and answer this. I'm just not sure how often she checks this board.

Jo, this one's actually pretty easy. If it's a complete sentence, it gets a period. So...

Sarah's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know what to say." (note that I changed the question mark to a period.)

Alex shook his head. "No, just see that..."

Reuben turned to Brian and sternly addressed him. "This is my boy. Until you have spent yourself..." (Notice that I changed your comma after 'boy' to a period.)

The exception here is

Alex continued, "I knew that would happen..."

In this sentence, 'continued' is a replacement for 'said', and the sentence would not be complete with a period after 'continued.' In this case, you'd use a comma.

Questions?

[jo555]

Oh, this is so humiliating. I think I have embarassed myself enough.



Thank God for that smart spell checker in Microsoft Word...

Thanks again Glorybee. Such a helpful bee.

In reality I had a good laugh.
We have to be able to laugh at ourselves.

So it's edit number...oh, who's counting?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

[glorybee]

No reason to feel humiliated in the least. There are no bad questions--I'd far rather you (or anyone) asked, out of a desire to write correctly, than publish something with easily correctable errors. And perhaps a few more people have learned something new by reading this thread. Just keep right on asking!

[Anja]

Thanks, Jan.

Ditto to everything she said. I would have said the same.

(I have been checking and responding a little more faithfully, making a point of at least once a day or every other day or so. I will always get back to this forum, if not always in a timely fashion. Life is extremely busy.)

[jo555]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[jo555]

No reason to feel humiliated in the least. There are no bad questions--I'd far rather you (or anyone) asked, out of a desire to write correctly, than publish something with easily correctable errors. And perhaps a few more people have learned something new by reading this thread. Just keep right on asking!

Thanks.
I am glad you feel that way because...I have another one.
I'm going to stop saying this is the last one because...

There's another one on a new thread coming.

[helen1975]

Hi Jo555!

I thought I'd let you know that I have learnt something from this thread, too, (not that that's so very surprising, really!). I thought there was always a comma before any quotation marks, no exceptions. It's good to know there can be a full stop (period) in some instances.

So be encouraged, your questions are helpful to many of us!

Blessings,

Helen

[jo555]

You all are so nice. I feel the love.

Thank you.