Rule C.1: TLR Quote Alteration Rules

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The following is not an exhaustive list of alteration rules—instead, Red Rule C.1 explains TLR’s stylistic choices derived from Bluebook Rule 5 and CMOS Rules 13.18–13.21.

C.1(a): Alterations in Old English Spellings

When an author uses an Old English term that is spelled incorrectly in modern-day English, the original spelling should be preserved and no notation needs to be made, unless the spelling is unintelligible. If the spelling is unintelligible, then “[sic]” should be used in compliance with Bluebook Rule 5.2(c).

EXAMPLE:

  • In Original: “Earley to bed, and earley to rise, makes a man healthey, wealthey, and wise.”
  • In TLR Article: Earley to bed, and earley to rise, makes a man healthey, wealthey, and wise.

C.1(b): Alterations of First Letter of Quotes in General

In general, words are normally lowercased unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence. Where quotes act as clauses within an in-text sentence, the first word in those quotations should begin with lowercase letters. This includes full-sentence quotations that appear as clauses within in-text sentences in the TLR article.

EXAMPLE:

  • In Original: “Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.”
  • In TLR Article: It is uncontested that “[f]ederal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.”

Exception to C.1(b): Where the quotation has a more remote syntactic relation to the rest of the sentence, the initial letter should remain capitalized.

EXAMPLE 1:

  • In Original: “Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.”
  • In TLR Article: As noted,“Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.”

EXAMPLE 2:

  • In Original: “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”
  • In TLR Article: His aphorism “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other” is a cogent warning to people of all ages.

Rules C.1(b) and the exception also apply when a quote is introduced using a colon.

EXAMPLE 1:

  • In Original: “All’s well that ends well.”
  • In TLR Article: As it was once put: “All’s well that ends well.”

EXAMPLE 2:

  • In Original: “Vegetables, fruits, herbs—you name it, and Chase grows it!” 
  • In TLR Article: Forrest grows a lot of different plants: “[v]egetables,” herbs, and fruits.

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