Jobb Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Quotation marks, dash and colon
Context:
... and he reacted at once, "Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!"
The question is:
If what the speaker said in the quotation marks is just part of what he said at that time, could I remove the quotation marks? That is, can it be:
and he reacted at once -- Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!
I fear that the usage of double dash is awkward. So could I use "colon" instead? That is:
and he reacted at once: Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!
... and he reacted at once, "Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!"
The question is:
If what the speaker said in the quotation marks is just part of what he said at that time, could I remove the quotation marks? That is, can it be:
and he reacted at once -- Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!
I fear that the usage of double dash is awkward. So could I use "colon" instead? That is:
and he reacted at once: Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!
Top answer
You need the quotation marks if it is direct speech. The m-dash is not awkward, but it is not necessary either. A colon looks over-formal, however, to me.
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You need the quotation marks if it is direct speech. The m-dash is not awkward, but it is not necessary either. A colon looks over-formal, however, to me. How about a period?-- that will work fine:
'... and he reacted at once. "Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!" '
'... and he reacted at once. "Chen Shengshen? A great mathematician, wonderful! Every Tianjinese who has ears knows him! What a talent he is!" '
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