I know that if Alice talks for more than one paragraph, I should only close the quotation marks at the end of the last paragraph.
"Blah blah blah.
"Blah blah."
I also know that if there's narration at the end of the first paragraph, I close the quotes so it doesn't blend with the quotation.
"Blah blah blah," said Alice.
"Blah blah," she continued.
What do I do if the narration is at the beginning of the second paragraph?
"Blah blah blah.
Alice paused, then continued, "Blah blah."
Should there be a quotation mark at the end of the first paragraph? If there's a rule, I'd like to know it, but if not, I'd appreciate examples in print for precedent.
Best Answer
The rule is this: only leave the ending quote out if the very next text is also part of the quotation. So your final example should be:
You can't leave out the quotation mark after the third "blah" because the next word is "Alice," which is not part of the quotation.
As an aside, I find the following is a helpful way to think of it. If it helps you as well, use it; if not, feel free to ignore:
Don't consider which quotation marks to remove. Instead, only think about which quotation marks to add. So, you should add a quotation mark: