Is there a correct way to format adjacent quotation mark sets?

hatrickpatrick

Let's suppose I have a quote immediately following a quote. For example, if the verb used to describe the character speaking actually splits the quote in half, the beginning of a reply quote may be directly after the end of the first one. For instance, consider:

"Hey," he said, "where did they go?" "Oh I'm sure they'll be back in a minute," she replied.

There I have the end of his quote immediately preceding the beginning of hers, without any grammar or punctuation between them. Is this correct, or do I need an intervening full stop or comma? I've experimented with different ways of doing this and none of them really look right, for instance:

"Hey," he said, "where did they go?". "Oh I'm sure they'll be back in a minute," she replied.
"Hey," he said, "where did they go?", "Oh I'm sure they'll be back in a minute," she replied.

etc.
None of the above look right to me but there's something about my original example where one quote follows another without anything dividing them which makes me a little uneasy for some reason. I feel I'm doing something sacrilegious every time I write a line like that, but the only way around it seems to be to avoid punctuating quotes with descriptions of the speech ("He said", "she yelled", "he wondered" etc) and to me, that's a little restrictive. I like how sentences sound when written that way, but I'm wondering if there's any truly "right" way to do it which won't look a bit weird.

It's hardly a big deal as I'm writing a fanfic for an online forum where I'm sure most people couldn't give a bollocks, but it's been bugging me for a while

MathsManiac

Your original is correctly punctuated. Publishers will often overcome the issue you identify by setting the second sentence on a fresh line. (In a conversation, they'll start each quotation by the alternate person on a new line.)

The first of your two alternative versions is also acceptable under UK style conventions, but not US.

I have a twenty-year-old OED that has these examples in the appendix:

They shouted, 'Watch out!'.
Did I hear you say 'go away!'?

However, I suspect that more recent reference books, which I'm afraid I don't have to hand at the moment, would recommend (but not demand) the omission of the full stop in the first one above.

This site seems pretty close to the mark, from my knowledge:
http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/quotation_%28speech%29_marks_punctuation_in_or_out.htm

pickarooney

Honestly, a carriage return is your easiest and best option