Quotes within quotes for multiple speakers.

IGLOOGREENHOUSE

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Messages
88
Reaction score
2
I know that if you have a quote within a quote you use single quote punctuation, like this:

"Grandmother was a nice lady, 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me."

But what if you have two speakers? Do you start a new paragraph? Example:

"Grandmother was a nice lady, 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me. Dad wasn't as nice, 'you're a wimp' was all he'd ever say."
 

chompers

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 19, 2013
Messages
2,506
Reaction score
384
I know that if you have a quote within a quote you use single quote punctuation, like this:

"Grandmother was a nice lady, 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me."

But what if you have two speakers? Do you start a new paragraph? Example:

"Grandmother was a nice lady, 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me. Dad wasn't as nice, 'you're a wimp' was all he'd ever say."
Depends on how you wanted to do it. You could have it as one continuous quote (since it's one person speaking), like you have it, although your punctuation is a bit wrong.

It should be:
"Grandmother was a nice lady. 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me. Dad wasn't as nice. 'You're a wimp' was all he'd ever say."

But if you want to separate it out into multiple paragraphs, for instance going into a bunch of other ways Grandmother was nice and how Dad wasn't quite so nice, you'd do it similarly, but don't close the quote until your speaker is done, but start each paragraph with open quotes. Only close once the whole speech is done:

"Grandmother was a nice lady. 'Have a nice day!' she'd tell me. She'd also make my favorites cookies for me every time I visited. 'Sweets for my sweet. Don't worry about finishing these. I will always make more for you.' And she always did.
"Dad wasn't as nice. 'You're a wimp' was all he'd ever say. He was a real jerk. 'Boy, you want a whipping?' 'Stop your whining, you sissy.' 'You gonna amount to nothin'.' Those were his favorite things to say to me when I was growing up."
 
Last edited:

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Messages
1,737
Reaction score
426
Location
Haunted Louisiana
I might be a bit confused... Two speakers - as in someone else offering the comment about Dad? Begin a new paragraph per the rules of dialogue. Otherwise, I agree with chompers.
 

Larry M

Banned
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
1,057
Reaction score
331
Location
Texas
Website
www.amazon.com
"Grandmother was a nice lady, 'Have a great day!' she'd tell me. Dad wasn't as nice, 'you're a wimp' was all he'd ever say."

I think yours is correct, as only one person is speaking while relating something others said. If you break it into two paragraphs, it may confuse the reader. I agree with the punctuation as Chompers mentioned.
 
Last edited: