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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19639
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Difficult concept and varies with style guide. In general,

1) It Is appropriate to capitalize the first word of a full sentence within a quote (motto s have different rules).

2) All versions of TO SAY should be followed by a conma

3) Exclamations such as "Stop!" should be capitalized with an exclamation point at the end. It does not need to finish a sentence and may be followed by narrative with lower case. **He screamed, "Stop!" before racing down the street.**

4) Internal thoughts do not need quotation marks (and this looks weird) **I was thinking to myself, Just drive, right before she started down the street.** However, I like to put thoughts in italics (despite my go-to style guide, THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, doesn't advocate this approach).

5) Questions within running commentary do not have to end a sentence and may be followed by commas. **"I have three questions for you: Who are you?, what are you?, and what am I doing here?"** The question marks are not necessary in this case, but may be used depending on inflection that you intend. However, \_\_"My favorite book, [italics] Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is available at the bookstore down the street."\_\_this example requires a comma after the question mark.

Original score: 1