Yet another punctuation question.

[silver_sun]

Can't you just tell my Tardis-bigbang fic is at the editing/beta reading stage :)

Question this time is about capitalisation in dialogue. I had always thought it was the second one that was right, however I've been told by somebody else that it's the first one that is the correct one. Does anybody know which one of us is correct?


1.  Turning to Ianto, Andy asks, “do you think that the aliens have taken everybody away? Or just the people in Cardiff?”

or

2.  Turning to Ianto, Andy asks, “Do you think that the aliens have taken everybody away? Or just the people in Cardiff?”

Comments

[temporal-witch.livejournal.com]

The second one is definitely correct. :)

[silver_sun]

Thought it was the second one, especially as the person who told me it was the first also wanted me to change all the s to z spellings for things like organise, computerise etc.

Is the not capitalising the start of the dialogue an American thing? as that would sort of fit with the chaning the spelling part of what was said.

[temporal-witch.livejournal.com]

Is the not capitalising the start of the dialogue an American thing?

Not at all. The second example is proper written American English as well. Hmm...I can't actually think of an instance in which beginning dialogue without capitalisation would be appropriate. It can be done using split-quotes, but you'd need the thought to be complete. It would work like this:

"Hey, mate, do you think," Andy said, turning to Ianto, "the aliens have taken everybody away? Or just the people in Cardiff?"

(That actually reads a little awkwardly, but it illustrates the point, I think.)

I'm not sure why the other person would advise you to not capitalise the beginning of dialogue, unless it's just a personal style choice. However, the second choice is the proper one. :)

- The Grammar-Nazi, at your service ;)

[halftime1030.livejournal.com]

#2. The descriptive part of your initial sentence ends with asks,

Andy's question is a sentence in its own right so requires a capital. :)