I'm confused about this grammar. Let's say you have a phrase like "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "But you could be right." Shouldn't it instead be, "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "but you could be right." Also, when they're referencing someone using he/she, I assumed it should be, "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "She could be right." because 'she' is referring to a female character that they know. Thoughts?
I would go with the second version because it is still part of the discourse. the first clause still runs into the second clause.
Yeah I agree with... with Cacian. It's all part of the same sentence, so just imagine taking out the middle part and squishing the outer bits together if that makes sense.
Also agree with "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "but you could be right." However, the second sentence should be "No, I don't think so," Joseph said. "She could be right." or "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "but she could be right."
I think it depends on what Joseph actually said. Did he say the following? "No, I don't think so. But you could be right." This implies that Joe had an afterthought. To make that extra clear, I would probably present it with a beat rather than a tag. No, I don't think so." Joseph frowned, then shrugged and reached for the phone. "But you could be right." On the other hand, if Joseph said: "No, I don't think so, but you could be right." then the punctuation would be: "No, I don't think so," Joseph said, "but you could be right." ChickenFreak
