Can you please help me punctuate the quotes in this?

[HappyGrace]

I am getting confused on whether to indent the quotations or not when they are in the middle of a paragraph. I know I know this but it doesn't look right to make a new paragraph with every quote! (This is dd's short article from an interview with a couple at church-I left out identifying details.) The paragraph indents won't show up here so I will put a green P where we indented for paragraph.

 

 

P C and D Norris are a mature godly couple living in ___, NY. They go to ____ Church and are both very involved. C is a Sunday school teacher and D is an elder.

P They first met at a fraternity house. (Do we indent here?) As far as keeping God first in their life and marriage, Mr. Norris says, (or here?) “I seek God to lead me almost every day. I put Him first and C second.” (and then do we indent here again?) His wife C reads the Bible and prays, and she also says passionately, “I try to put D's wishes before my own.”

P Mr. Norris thinks that the best part of being married is having Mrs. Norris as his best friend. (Do we intent here?) Mrs. Norris says affectionately, (or here?) “We have fun together. And we get to sleep together.”

P The advice that Mr. and Mrs. Norris would give a new bride and groom would be:

P Mr. Norris-“I would tell the husband that when your wife asks for anything, don’t say no. Say, “Let’s talk and pray about it.” Also never go to bed angry; reconcile first.

P Mrs. Norris says, “(I would tell the bride) Always seek to make sure your husband is first and please him.”

PAnd yes, they did think about whom they would marry when they were young. When Mr. Norris was at the age where he started to look at girls, he though he’d never be able to live with just one all his life. (Do we indent here?) Mrs. Norris remembers, “Yes, I did all the time, since I was about five years old. My desire was to get married and be a mother.”

 

Like I said, I know I know this but it is somehow looking weird to break up the paragraphs. And then I can't remember if we indent after the attribution or indent the attribution too!

Edited June 7, 2011 by HappyGrace

[HistoryMom]

Are you asking about setting off quotes by indenting both left and right? Or by starting a new paragraph for each? I believe Chicago style, which is what I follow, says that you should only indent if your quote is more than a couple of lines long. Quotes that are just a sentence or two should stay within the body of the paragraph. This is how I would suggest:

 

 

]]]]C and D Norris are a mature godly couple living in ___, NY. They go to ____ Church and are both very involved. C is a Sunday school teacher and D is an elder.

]]]]They first met at a fraternity house. As far as keeping God first in their life and marriage, Mr. Norris says, “I seek God to lead me almost every day. I put Him first and C second.” His wife C reads the Bible and prays, and she also says passionately, “I try to put D's wishes before my own.”

]]]]Mr. Norris thinks that the best part of being married is having Mrs. Norris as his best friend. Mrs. Norris says affectionately, “We have fun together. And we get to sleep together.”

]]]]When asked what advice they would give a new bride and groom, Mr. Norris said says, “I would tell the husband that when your wife asks for anything, don’t say no. Say, 'Let’s talk and pray about it.' Also never go to bed angry; reconcile first.'" Mrs. Norris says, “[i would tell the bride] Always seek to make sure your husband is first and please him.” {edited this a bit to make it work as a single paragraph, and addressed a few punctuation issues}

]]]]And yes, they did think about whom they would marry when they were young. Mrs. Norris remembers, “Yes, I did all the time, since I was about five years old. My desire was to get married and be a mother.” When Mr. Norris was at the age where he started to look at girls, he though he’d never be able to live with just one all his life. {switched these two sentences to remove a little ambiguity}

[Chelli]

I am getting confused on whether to indent the quotations or not when they are in the middle of a paragraph. I know I know this but it doesn't look right to make a new paragraph with every quote! (This is dd's short article from an interview with a couple at church-I left out identifying details.) The paragraph indents won't show up here so I will put a green P where we indented for paragraph.

 

 

P C and D Norris are a mature godly couple living in ___, NY. They go to ____ Church and are both very involved. C is a Sunday school teacher and D is an elder. They first met at a fraternity house. As far as keeping God first in their life and marriage, Mr. Norris says, “I seek God to lead me almost every day. I put Him first and C second.†His wife C reads the Bible and prays, and she also says passionately, “I try to put D's wishes before my own.â€

P Mr. Norris thinks that the best part of being married is having Mrs. Norris as his best friend. Mrs. Norris says affectionately, "We have fun together. And we get to sleep together.â€

P Mr. Norris would tell a recently married husband, “When your wife asks for anything, don’t say no. Say, 'Let’s talk and pray about it.' Also never go to bed angry; reconcile first." Mrs. Norris would suggest to the wife, “Always seek to make sure your husband is first and please him.â€

PAnd, yes, they did think about whom they would marry when they were young. When Mr. Norris was at the age where he started to look at girls, he thought he’d never be able to live with just one all his life. Mrs. Norris remembers, “Yes, I did all the time, since I was about five years old. My desire was to get married and be a mother.â€

 

Like I said, I know I know this but it is somehow looking weird to break up the paragraphs. And then I can't remember if we indent after the attribution or indent the attribution too!

 

This is how I would divide it up. I reworded that third paragraph a little bit to make it flow a little better without the colon. HTH

[Ellie]

I am getting confused on whether to indent the quotations or not when they are in the middle of a paragraph. I know I know this but it doesn't look right to make a new paragraph with every quote! (This is dd's short article from an interview with a couple at church-I left out identifying details.)

 

 

C and D Norris are a mature godly couple living in ___, NY. They go to ____ Church and are both very involved. C is a Sunday school teacher and D is an elder.

 

 

 

They first met at a fraternity house. As far as keeping God first in their life and marriage, Mr. Norris says, “I seek God to lead me almost every day. I put Him first and C second.” His wife C reads the Bible and prays, and she also says passionately, “I try to put D's wishes before my own.”

 

 

 

Mr. Norris thinks that the best part of being married is having Mrs. Norris as his best friend. Mrs. Norris says affectionately, “We have fun together. And we get to sleep together.”

 

 

 

Mr. Norris's advice to a new groom would be, “I would tell the husband that when your wife asks for anything, don’t say no. Say, 'Let’s talk and pray about it.' Also, never go to bed angry; reconcile first."

 

 

 

Mrs. Norris's advice to the new bride would be, "Always seek to make sure your husband is first and please him.”

 

 

 

And yes, they did think about whom they would marry when they were young. When Mr. Norris was at the age where he started to look at girls, he thought he’d never be able to live with just one all his life. Mrs. Norris remembers, “Yes, I did all the time, since I was about five years old. My desire was to get married and be a mother.”

 

Like I said, I know I know this but it is somehow looking weird to break up the paragraphs. And then I can't remember if we indent after the attribution or indent the attribution too!

 

I don't know why there would be indents in the middle of paragraphs :confused: but this is how I would punctuate/write the article. It's acceptable to include quotes in the middle of paragraphs.

[HappyGrace]

Yes, this is how I learned it-keeping paragraphs together even if there is a quote in it. Whew-I thought I was going crazy! Or else a horrible homeschool mom who is not up on proper technique!

 

Dd's writing teacher has her indent with each quotation, and I have seen that in books. I will have to figure it out so we are consistent at home and co-op.

 

Is there a good resource book I could get for this type of thing?

 

THANK YOU!

[Chelli]

Dd's writing teacher has her indent with each quotation, and I have seen that in books. I will have to figure it out so we are consistent at home and co-op. I have never heard of having to indent for each quotation in a scholarly/article type of writing. The only time that I know of where you indent for each quotation is in creative writing (i.e. a story, novel, etc.). If your dd is in a creative writing class then the teacher is correct. In a scholarly (reports, articles, etc.) work, then quotes are only indented when they are over 2 lines in length (this rule might differ by style, but I don't think so).

 

Is there a good resource book I could get for this type of thing? The source you would want to teach your children depends on what style the teacher/instructor uses for scholarly writing. Many people use MLA format, some Chicago style, and some use Turabian (this is what I had to use for my college history research papers). There are probably many more out there as well. If this is just for use during home educating, then I would probably use MLA because it is easier to learn and what most high schools use.

 

What would be most valuable, IMO, would be to get some resources about all three styles I mentioned (lots for free on the Internet) and have your dd do research papers in all three different syles during her high school career. The reason I say this is if your dd plans on going to college, then she will encounter professors who require a different style for each of their classes (western civ.--Turabian, comp 1--MLA, etc.). It would be good practice now for her to learn how to take a paper and mold it to any style, so that she doesn't just stick with one style through all of high school and then suddenly has to learn new ones in college.

 

THANK YOU!

 

I hope that helped. I'm SUCH a nerd...I love this kind of stuff (researching, wrtiting reports, etc.) :001_smile: