jmsx521

Some confusions arising here with English language. What if I am to continue a quote by another person... how is my addition going to be written? Let's take Gertrude Stein's quote (which I just posted in another thread) and add to it my words as well.

Original

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing."


Once I add my statement, which one would be grammatically correct... (wouldn't be surprised if none)

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing" [and at the end you die a hero].

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing." [And at the end you die a hero.]

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing... [and at the end you die a hero]."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing [... and at the end you die a hero]."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing [and at the end you die a hero]."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing..." [and at the end you die a hero].

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing"... [and at the end you die a hero].


How about inserting my comment in the middle of the quote

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius [and a fool as well], you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, [and a fool as well] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius [and a fool as well]; you have to sit around so much doing nothing." (Can I remove the comma after genius... in addition to adding my words to the quote, can I edit a quote's punctuation? Maybe that's a whole different topic.)

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius [and a fool as well;] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius... [and a fool as well,] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius... [and a fool as well], you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, [... and a fool as well] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, [... and a fool as well,] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius [... and a fool as well,] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius [... and a fool as well;] you have to sit around so much doing nothing."

(I prefer taking her comma out; it doesn't work well with the ellipsis. Then, I have to put it after the word well, to separate the two sentences. And semicolon is even better.)

Can't think of anymore mistakes to write.

Thanks.

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aspiring

What is the original quotation? Is it "It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing and at the end you die a hero." OR is there some other sentence or phrase included between 'doing nothing' and 'and at the end'? It is important for your quotation.

If the original quotation is as above, the correct way is:

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing [and at the end you die a hero]."

The section in brackets is still from the original quotation so should be included within the speech marks.

If there is some phrase or sentence in between the two sections, you can include ellipses to show missing speech. An ellipsis within speech marks of a quotation is ONLY used to show missing speech.

Square brackets show that the words contained are not necessary to the point you are trying to make but are necessary to the understanding of the reader. They can also be used to replace pronouns with names or vice versa, to aid understanding. However, you cannot use square brackets to voice your own opinions. Your opinion should stay outside of the speech marks, thus:

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius," (and a fool as well), "you have to sit around so much doing nothing [and at the end you die a hero]."

However this is clumsy and badly written. It also smacks of generalisation. I would use the quotation and then include my own thoughts afterwards, explaining why I had this point of view.

You cannot edit punctuation within a quotation simply because you don't like it. Spelling mistakes in the original quotation are also kept, although the person quoting will add the word 'sic' in square brackets after the word so as to show that it was not the person's mistake, thus:

"It takes a lot of time to be a genious [sic], you have to sit around so much doing nothing."