Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/231

 with a period or comma, the thin space may be omitted, for the blank over the period or comma is enough to show the separation. When a dash is used to mark broken or interrupted speech, the quote may come close after the dash.

When words are purposely omitted in a quotation, this omission should be marked by the use of three periods about two spaces apart.

There is an old but unwritten rule, fairly observed by many compositors, that the closing marks of quotation always should be put after the comma or the period in all places where these points are needed. This practice, proper enough in many instances, seems to have warranted the frequent but erroneous insertion of these marks after every point of punctuation and even after a final parenthesis. The proper place of the closing marks of quotation should be determined by the quoted words only; they must inclose these words, and no more; they may be before or after the points, according to the construction of the sentence. When the quotation makes a complete sentence, put the quotation-marks after the period at the end of that sentence; when the quotation is at the end of but a portion of this sentence which terminates with a colon, semicolon, or any other point, then put the marks before the point. The mark of punctuation intended to define the construction of the completed sentence should not be made a portion of the fragmentary quoted matter.