Post AapRNIkrSWSIRCONEW by fgraver@hcommons.social
 (DIR) More posts by fgraver@hcommons.social
 (DIR) Post #AapRNI51y2zkLSoy24 by christydena@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T04:24:43Z
       
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       Grammar question:Do I say "this is a quote by X" or "this a quote from X"? (I'm referring to their spoken words, which I'm repeating.)Thank you!
       
 (DIR) Post #AapRNIkrSWSIRCONEW by fgraver@hcommons.social
       2023-10-16T04:36:26Z
       
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       @christydena «from» seems correct to me, given that X is an entity and not an individual. But I’m not 100% sure if that’s actually correct. @grammargirl would likely know.
       
 (DIR) Post #AapRNJjpnpEDUIv4Gu by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T13:15:19Z
       
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       @fgraver @christydena In my 17+ years as Grammar Girl, I had never heard of a distinction between "a quote by" and "a quote from" until a couple of weeks ago when I did a poll on "quote" versus "quotation."I'm not aware of any style guide that addresses it (and I just double checked and it's not in Garner).Online, it seems to come up mostly with people who are learning English and are trying to figure out the differences between prepositions. #sympathy
       
 (DIR) Post #AapRfIYivRr12jIRFo by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T13:18:36Z
       
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       @fgraver @christydena And the distinction I heard about when I did my poll was that when the sentence read "a quote by" a couple of people told me it was wrong, and when I changed it to "a quote from," a couple of other people told me it was wrong.I think there are a few people who wonder about a difference or who have decided there is a difference, but I don't think it's a real rule or something most people notice.In short, I wouldn't worry about it.
       
 (DIR) Post #AapRxbmoB6W9t5cDHk by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T13:21:54Z
       
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       @fgraver @christydena If you do want to worry about it, the difference I saw is that a quote "by" someone was spoken and a quote "from" someone was from a written work.But again, I don't think this is a real rule.It seems to be a human tendency to want to assign different meanings to slightly different words or phrases. I've had people insist to me that "gray" and "grey" are two different colors when really they are just the American and British spellings.
       
 (DIR) Post #AapaxiKClb8PkpMTIm by fgraver@hcommons.social
       2023-10-16T15:02:44Z
       
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       @grammargirl @christydena Good to know! Thanks :)
       
 (DIR) Post #AaqD2Ef4HLcXScheZU by christydena@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T21:16:15Z
       
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       @fgraver @grammargirl Thank you, Mignon, for sharing this info! All helpful! Yeah, another colleague passed on an (informal) rule from an editor: "quote by a person, quote from a book". I won't invoke that in the name of a rule. I'll instead go with it because it vibes with me for now. Thank you! :)
       
 (DIR) Post #AaqD2FjiHYvknJssS0 by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-10-16T22:09:22Z
       
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       @christydena @fgraver Sounds good.