Grade School Lied?

The other day I was correcting someone's manuscript. I came across a dialogue and noticed something different about the author's style. Each dialogue started with a capital letter and all the punctuation marks were inside the quotations marks. What was going on? I always learned that if a non-dialogue started the sentence then the verbal part (the part within the quotations marks) was lower cased. You can't have two capital letters in one sentence, right? And what happened to punctuating outside of the quotations marks? I was about to mark everything in red and call this writer a bad grammar student. 

Luckily, I did no such thing. I decided to consult my trusty Chicago Manual of Style. And...I didn't find what I was looking for. I've learned you can only use Chicago, APA, MLA or any other form of academic style for exactly that--academic works (i.e., non-fictions manuscripts). When editing or reading fiction, sometimes different rules apply. So, I had to use my trusty fingers and brain to search for the correct use of quotations marks and dialogue. This is what I found:

                Punctuation Used with Quotation Marks 

                Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation marks. For example: “Come 

                back next week,” the doctor told Gus. “We can check your blood pressure then.” 

                Question marks and exclamation points go inside the closing quotation marks when 

                only the quoted material is either a question or an exclamation. For example: He asked, 

               “Where are they now?”  She shouted, “The dam broke!”  

                Question marks and exclamation points go outside the closing quotation marks when 

                 the entire sentence forms a question or an exclamation. For example: 

                Who said, “To err is human”?  I have told you for the last time to stop calling me your 

                “little sweetie”! 

                A direct quotation begins with a capital letter unless it is a sentence fragment or an 

                interrupted thought. For example: 

                The travel agent said, “Our city is usually warm in the spring.” 

              “Once,” said Madeline, “my family rode a train to Maine.” 

              “San Francisco remains one of my favorite cities,” the critic reported. “My opinion may 

                change, however, once I see Vancouver.” 

              “Everyone I know likes the stores in Chicago,” said my friend. 

                If the same speaker’s words are longer than one paragraph, begin each new paragraph 

               with quotation marks, but don’t add closing quotation marks until the quote ends. For 

               example: 

             “This is a city I could get used to,” said Ellen, sweeping her hand through the air. 

             “The rent’s cheap, and I can get a job anywhere. I won’t even need a car because I can 

              always ride my bike or take the Metro. 

             “But best of all,” she noted, “I can be at the beach in five minutes.”   (http://www.stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic_Resources/Writing_Resources/Grammar_Handouts/Quotation_Marks_in_Dialogue.pdf)

I also searched in Purdue Owl (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/) and it basically says the same thing. Amazing how sometimes we believe in something for years only to find out it wasn't true. I guess grade school was wrong. Well, at least in my case. 

Lesson for today?

Always relearn rules. No matter if they pertain to grammar and spelling, or just every day life. You'll be amazed how much has changed or that maybe it was taught incorrectly in the first place. 

Happy grammar,

KLM