If you work a direct quote into your sentence, the quote can become
part of the sentence. In this case you do not need commas. You just have to follow
the same rules of grammar that you would for a normal sentence:
According to the author, "The sun will rise tomorrow" and "life will
go on."
According to the author, "Cows are big chunks of methane"
or "little methane factories."
Both sentences need a comma after author because according to the author
is an introductory clause (see Comma Usage).
Removing the quotes, we can see that the sentence is grammatically correct: According
to the author, cows are big chunks of methane or little methane factories. A common
way to work a direct quote into a sentence without an introductory clause looks
like this:
A recent study found that "cats are more likely to rule the world than dogs
are."
Note that if you change "found that" to a word like "suggested,"
you would need a comma again:
A recent study suggested, "cats are more likely to rule the world than dogs
are."
Words like "suggested" change the first part of the sentence to a more
active state. Fortunately, the grammar checker will often correct this for you.
There are several ways to quote, all of which the grammar checker will probably
not understand. Consider quotes from the following: Our study examines the impact
of having household pets on subjective reports of loneliness and depression.
You can quote using an ellipsis (three periods used to indicate missing text):
The psychologists studied "…the impact of having household pets on subjective reports of loneliness and depression."
The psychologists studied "…the impact of having household pets on…loneliness
and depression."
The psychologists studied the affects of "…having household pets
on loneliness and depression."
If the quotation begins with a capital letter, leave it capitalized even if you
make it part of your sentence:
The authors write, "Our study examines the impact of having household pets
on subjective reports of loneliness and depression."
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