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"We must look everywhere," he said, turned around and then added, "Let's start here."

Should the last sentence (Let's start here) start with lower case or upper case? Since the speech is interrupted, it probably should start with the lower case. However, it is a new sentence, not a part of the interrupted one.

I understand these examples:

  • "If you want my opinion," John said, "this is ridiculous."

("If you want my opinion, this is ridiculous." — the whole sentence is interrupted in the middle, hence the lower case in the second part.)

  • "He only had one drink," the bartender said. "Now look at him."

("He only had one drink. Now look at him." — two sentences, the second one starts with upper case.)

But if it is a combination of the two, what should one use?

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    Why do you call it 'a combination of the two'? It's just as much a new sentence as Now look at him. Commented Jan 22 at 13:01
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    Yes, it is a new sentence; I am concerned about the comma before it. Like, I would usually use lower case after a comma. But here, not so sure. Commented Jan 22 at 13:53
  • I think you've found a grey area most introductory punctuation guides (usually lumped with grammar at school) don't consider. Hence the upvote. I'd prefer the example to be << "We must look everywhere," he said, turning around and adding, "L/let's start here." >> The obvious workaround is to split the dialogue with the independent clauses in the quoted material (there is, after all, sequentiality): << "We must look everywhere," he said. He turned around and then added "Let's start here." >> (No introductory comma intentionally as little pause, but one was once considered mandatory.) Commented Jan 22 at 13:55
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    ... << "We must look everywhere," he said, "L/let's start here." is a stripped, simpler variant with essentially the same problem (though I seem to remember that the 'continue with lower-case' rule of thumb traditionally trumps the 'start new sentences with upper case' ROT). But you could argue for a covert comma splice. I think that using two sentences is best, though a colon in place of the comma before "Let's" might exercise a few punctuation pundits' adversarial skills. Commented Jan 22 at 14:10
  • Btw, a red herring, but "He said, turned around" isn't a mechanically great sentence. Maybe a better example to avoid distractions about mechanics might be '"We must look everywhere," he said, turning around and adding, "Let's start here."' Commented Jan 22 at 14:31

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In dialog, as in other text, every sentence, even a continuation of a previous, interrupted sentence -- if the continuation is a sentence -- should be capitalized.

"I want to," he started to say, before pausing for a long time, then continuing, "eat at McDonald's."

"I want to," he started to say, before pausing for a long time, then continuing, "I want to eat at McDonald's."

A comma before attribution is just a convention. It seems that sentences in dialog should end with periods, but if followed by attribution, periods would ruin the flow of reading:

"I feed bad." she said. (seemingly correct, reads wrong)

"I feel bad," she said. (Doesn't seem right, but reads right)

"I feel bad" she said. (Makes sense in some ways, but also reads wrong, in my mind at least. Maybe this will become standard some day)

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  • "I feel bad." she said. isn't right, as the . in "I feel bad." ends its sentence. However, the main point is still spot on: every sentence starts with a capitalized word, even if it's in a quotation, even if commas are involved. Commented Jan 22 at 20:22
  • Yeah, I was just going off on a tangent a bit. I know people have a hard time punctuating dialog and quotes in text. I often have developers tell me to remove commas or periods inside of quotes "because the comma isn't part of the text." But it's been drilled into me to put them that way in the USA. I know it's different in other countries. Commented Jan 22 at 22:36
  • A comma between the complete sentence of dialogue and its attribution ("X said") is correct. English uses only a comma with tag questions, doesn't it? This is the same, and that's why it's called a dialogue tag. Commented Jan 22 at 22:55
  • Zero on-line punctuation between an initial tag and the quote in a quotative structure is fairly unremarkable nowadays, along with the traditional comma and colon. It is used where a smoother reading is desired: << John sighed "I'm in heaven. >>" But << "I feel bad." she said. >> is non-standard; the comma is given yet another role here. Though perhaps, as you say, zero on-line punctuation will become common here // I'm not happy with capitalising the second you in << "You must ..." he started to say, before pausing for a long time, then continuing, "you must eat at McDonald's." Commented Feb 21 at 23:20

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