1

In the following sentence, how do I set apart the suggested statement?

Tell your students, "You are close, but that only works if the equation uses addition. Since the equation uses multiplication, what do you think the answer is?"

I usually use a comma and quotation marks, but I'm not sure that's correct.

Barmar
  • 20,741
  • 1
  • 38
  • 59
editormn
  • 29
  • Is it actually spoken speech in dialogue, or is it indirect? If it's not dialogue, either rephrase it to be indirect, or use either italics or quotation marks without the speech-tag comma. (At least according to common style guidance.) – Jason Bassford Aug 11 '20 at 17:08
  • It's something that a teacher guide is telling teachers they should say. So the saying is in first person as if the teacher will say it. We'd like to give teachers exact phrases to use, so indirect doesn't seem like a good option.

    Can you reference a specific style guide for using quotation or italics without the comma?

     – editormn Aug 11 '20 at 18:09
  • It's using words as words—or the use-mention distinction. – Jason Bassford Aug 11 '20 at 18:19
  • Thank you! This is close to what I'm looking for. – editormn Aug 11 '20 at 21:10

1 Answers1

0

I suggest rewriting as follows.

Tell your students, "You are close, but that only works if the equation uses addition." And then ask them, "Since the equation uses multiplication, what do you think the answer is?"

I suggest this rewrite because it is easier to understand. I'm going on the principle that "writing is good if readers find it easy to follow."

Reference: Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern English Usage, 4th ed., (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), xiv.

Mark D Worthen PsyD
  • 480