One last note - Direct and indirect quotes - Revising sentences

Better sentence-writing in 30 minutes a day - Dianna Campbell 1995

One last note
Direct and indirect quotes
Revising sentences

Don’t double your punctuation when the attribution comes after a direct quote. In other words, if a direct quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, omit the comma. These examples are correct:

“Who’s watching the store?” she asked.

“Throw the ball!” they yelled.

Exercise 4.6

Make the necessary changes wherever you find direct quotes. Your changes may involve quotation marks, commas, colons, and capitalization. Some sentences might not contain direct quotes; those sentences should not be changed.

1. Zsa Zsa Gabor once said I’m a wonderful housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house.

2. In 1787, the United States minted a copper coin with a simple motto mind your business.

3. The Outer Limits, a science fiction TV series, always opened with the same line there is nothing wrong with your set.

4. Assassination is the extreme form of censorship claimed George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright.

5. George Gallup, the nationally known pollster, once said that he could prove the existence of God statistically.