Apostrophes and quotation marks http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839 onesecondglance OK, here's my sentence. “Everything all right with the old boy?” he asked. “Yes, DCI Searle is well,” she said, reminding him of “the old boy”’s rank. My problem is that apostrophe next to the quotation marks. It's definitely necessary - the "old boy" possesses the rank - but so are the quotation marks, as we're reporting back the first speaker's phrase. I tried "the old boy's" rank but this also looked wrong. Any thoughts? Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:16:29 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1112070 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1112070 Gerd D. When in doubt shuffle your sentence around. :) I would avoid the whole apostrophe s affair, and use something like: “Yes, DCI Searle is well,” she said, reminding him what rank “the old boy" held. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:11:03 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1112176 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1112176 onesecondglance Thanks man, that's good advice. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:30 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1119489 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1119489 Leonara Declamara I don't think that you would put part of the phrase in quotations. I would think it would be all or nothing... either "The old man's" rank, or no quotes at all. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:43:22 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122786 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/writing-101/threads/49839?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122786