Proper Quote Formats

Here they are, with the most commonly used formats at the top. You should ALWAYS structure your quotes this way, and you should NEVER deviate from these formats. Remember, too, that you should almost always float the quote, meaning let it stand as its own paragraph.

1. "A one-sentence quote," he said.
2. "First sentence of a two-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence." Note: This is a very handy one.
3. "First sentence of a three-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence. Third sentence."
4. He continued, "You can keep a long quote going by using this construction to break part of it into a new paragraph."
5. "The start of a long one-sentence quote," he said, "which then continues to the end."
6. He said: "You can use the colon construction to introduce a three- or four-sentence quote. You should do it only if you think the long quote is truly worthwhile."
7. He said, "This is often a weak way to do a simple quote because it's better to put the attribution at the end"
8. He said that you also can "quote just part of what I am saying" as a partial quote. Note: This is the only time you leave out the comma or commas.