Learn English – How to break direct speech into two parts right

speech

This is what I'm writing:

"Let's go," she says, "before it's too late."

Should I do this instead ("B" is capital):

"Let's go," she says, "Before it's too late."

Which one is right?

Best Answer

From ODO - Punctuation in direct speech (numbering added for ease of reference):

If the direct speech is broken up by information about who is speaking, you need a comma (or a question mark or exclamation mark) to end the first piece of speech and a full stop or another comma before the second piece (before the inverted comma or commas):

  1. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘It feels strange.’

  2. ‘Thinking back,’ she said, ‘he didn’t expect to win.’

  3. ‘No!’ he cried. ‘You can’t leave now!’

Your example has the same form as example 2 in the quote, so don't capitalise the continuation - leave it in lowercase.

Related Topic