Comma with Dialogue or Quote Integration
Jared Aragona
Comma with dialogue or quote integration: Use a comma to shift between the main discourse and a quotation. A comma before and after signal phrases in the middle of a sentence.
According to John Fowles, “There should be four main aims in a good education . . .”
John Fowles writes, “There should be four main aims in a good education.”
“The first,” Fowles writes, “is the one that pre-empts all present systems.”
“The first is the one that pre-empts all present systems,” Fowles writes.
Do not put a comma if your quote is integrated into the grammar of the sentence [H9]:
John Fowles believes that “[t]here should be four main aims in a good education.”
The MLCKRB (Master List Code Key and Rule Book): An English Grammar & Style Handbook by Jared Aragona, CC BY 4.0