Commas with Quotes: Where Do They Go and When Should You DITCH Them?

You’ve probably figured out by now that commas have a LOT of different jobs. You might call them the jack-of-all-trades of the punctuation world. They separate items in a list, set off nonrestrictive clauses, follow introductory phrases, and so much more. Another important job of the comma is to introduce a quote. But—as with pretty much all comma rules—there are some nuances and exceptions to this role that you need to be aware of.

The Rule

Commas should be used to separate the quotation from the speaker in a sentence.

Sherlock Holmes famously said, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

The order for a basic quotation sentence is as follows:

A sentence may be inverted, with the quote coming first. In this case, the comma comes after the quote (but see the exception under “When Stronger Punctuation Beats Out the Comma” further down in this post):

Here’s an example of an inverted quotation sentence:

“You know my methods, Watson,” said Sherlock.

Another possible sentence structure is an interrupted quotation. In that case, you need commas both after the first part of the quote and after the speaker’s name.

Here’s an example of that:

“By heavens, Holmes,” Watson said, “I believe that they are really after us.”

“No,” Holmes replied, “it’s not quite so bad as that.”

Note the capitalization in these sentences: You should usually capitalize the first letter of a quote, even if it’s not at the beginning of the sentence. The exceptions to this rule are (1) if the quote is integrated into the sentence (more on that in the next section of this post) and (2) if the quote is interrupted, only the first part of the quote should be capitalized.

“It is my belief, Watson,” Sherlock went on, “Founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”

“It is my belief, Watson,” Sherlock went on, “founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”

Now let’s get into those exceptions!

Some Exceptions

When a Comma Should Be a Colon

Sometimes, you’ll need a colon before your quote. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, “When a quotation is introduced by an independent clause, a colon should be used.”

Holmes turned to look at Watson once the lady had left: “Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department. What was the fair lady’s game? What did she really want?”

So, if the introduction to the quote could stand on its own as a sentence, use a colon rather than a comma after it.

Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered: “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”

Check: Could the introduction stand on its own as a sentence? “Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered.” Yep, looks like a full sentence to me! So a colon is good there.

If not, use a comma.

Watson said: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” “That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Check: Could the introduction stand on its own as a sentence? “Watson said.” Eh, no. That’s not a sentence. We’ll need a comma instead.

Watson said, “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” “That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.

When the Quotation Is Integrated Into the Sentence

If you could remove the quotation marks from a sentence and no one would know that a quote was ever there, then you should not introduce the quote with a comma.

The Chicago Manual of Style puts it another way: “When a quotation introduced midsentence forms a syntactical part of the surrounding sentence, no comma or other mark of punctuation is needed to introduce it, though punctuation may be required for other reasons.”

So this sentence would require a comma:

Sherlock Holmes said, “I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.”

But this one would not:

Sherlock Holmes said that he is “a brain” and the rest of him is a “mere appendix.”

If we remove those quotation marks, we’d never know they were there in the first place. This sentence makes perfect sense: Sherlock Holmes said that he is a brain and the rest of him is a mere appendix.

With commas, that sentence cannot flow properly and is awkward to read:

Sherlock Holmes said that he is, “a brain,” and the rest of him is a, “mere appendix.”

If you have a verb like “said,” “replied,” or “asked” before the quote, you probably DO need a comma. But if you have a conjunction like “that,” “whether,” or “if” before the quote, you probably DON’T need a comma.

Sherlock Holmes said that “mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself.” He continued, “But talent instantly recognizes genius.”

Note that you might need a comma for other reasons to make the sentence correct. For example, if there were a nonrestrictive clause right before the quote, you need to end that clause with a comma:

Sherlock Holmes believed that, in short, “mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.”

In that example, the comma is not acting as an introduction to the quotation. Rather, it would need to be there regardless of whether the quote were there at all. Again, use that trick of removing the quotation marks entirely. Then punctuate the sentence as you normally would and add those quotation marks back in after you’ve done that.

When Stronger Punctuation Beats Out the Comma

If you’re dealing with a quote that has a question mark or exclamation point, you may run into a tricky dilemma: which one stays, the comma or the question mark/exclamation point? They surely cannot both stick around:

“Excellent!,” Watson cried.

In cases like this, the exclamation point or question mark stays and the comma disappears. The stronger punctuation mark beats out our poor comma.

“Excellent!” Watson cried.

“I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?” said Sherlock.

Note in that second example that “said” is not capitalized. If the sentence continues after the question or exclamation, you do not capitalize what follows (treat it as if the question mark weren’t there and the sentence is just continuing like normal).

“Stop!” shouted Inspector Lestrade.

But if the question or exclamation ends the sentence, do not add a period.

Sherlock said, “I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?.“

Sherlock said, “I am somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours electricity into a non-conductor?”

One exception to this rule is if you need the comma for clarity and without it, the sentence could lead to misunderstanding. For example, if you’re listing titles of stories and some of the titles end in question marks or exclamation points, you will still need to separate them with commas:

The best stories in this year’s journal included Where Do We Go from Here?, Eureka!, and So What?

There still is no period at the end (because our sentence ends in a stronger punctuation mark), but there are commas between the first two titles so that they don’t run together and appear to be a single title.

When the Quotation Marks Surround a Title

When the quotation marks surround a title (and not an actual quote), treat the noun like any other noun. Just pretend the quotation marks aren’t there at all. As The Chicago Manual of Style says, “Commas are used or omitted as they would be with any other noun.”

My favorite poem is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

In this sentence, I don’t need a comma because I wouldn’t normally include one in between “is” and its direct object. However, if the information were nonrestrictive (that is, it could be removed without causing confusion), I would include commas:

My favorite poem, “The Road Not Taken,” was painted on the wall.

In that case, I only have one favorite poem, so including the name of it is not essential.

The poem, “The Road Not Taken,” was painted on the wall.

Those commas are incorrect because if I took out the words surrounded by commas (“The Road Not Taken”), the sentence would not make sense. There is more than one poem in the world, so the audience wouldn’t know which poem I meant when I said, “The poem was painted on the wall.”

The poem “The Road Not Taken” was painted on the wall.

Watch Out for These Common Mistakes

I’m going to rapid-fire list some common mistakes to avoid. These are taken from The Copyeditor’s Handbook by Amy Einsohn:

• Do not use a comma before an indirect quotation:
  • Sherlock Holmes asked, if I wanted to tag along on the investigation.
  • Sherlock Holmes asked if I wanted to tag along on the investigation.
• Do not use a comma after “that” when it precedes a quotation:
  • Holmes said that, “there is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you.”
  • Holmes said that “there is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you.”
• Do not use a comma before a quotation that is the direct object of a verb:
  • The sign said, “No Trespassing.” The group’s motto is, “All for one and one for all.”
  • The sign said “No Trespassing.” The group’s motto is “All for one and one for all.”

Punctuation Pitfall: Commas INSIDE or OUTSIDE Quotation Marks?

Commas and periods always go INSIDE the ending quotation mark.

“My name is Sherlock Holmes”, the famous detective said. “It is my business to know what other people do not know”.

“My name is Sherlock Holmes,” the famous detective said. “It is my business to know what other people do not know.”

Question marks and exclamation marks go INSIDE the closing quotation mark if they’re part of the quote but OUTSIDE the closing quotation mark if they’re part of the sentence, not the quote.

“Do you not find it interesting?” asked Sherlock.

In this case, Sherlock is asking a question, so the question mark is inside the closing quotation mark.

Did you hear Watson say, “Never have I seen a man run as Holmes ran that night”?

In this case, Watson wasn’t asking the question—I used his quotation as part of my own question. So, the question mark stays outside the closing quotation mark.

If you have any questions about using commas with quotations, leave me a comment here or DM me on Instagram at strictly__speaking (with two underscores)!

Sources:

• American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020.
• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.
• Stock, Randall. “Sherlock Holmes Quotes: The Ten Most Famous Quotations from the Holmes Stories.” The 10 Most Famous Sherlock Holmes Quotes. Accessed September 6, 2024. https://www.bestofsherlock.com/top-10-sherlock-quotes.htm#impossible.