Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jul 1, 2011 0:36:56 GMT -5
In this case, Word is correct. You are supposed to put a comma, not a period, after a statement of dialogue.
I guess it just seems to me like the thought is incomplete if I leave a comma there. Thank you for clearing it up for me!
The thought isn't incomplete because, as a sentence, I said is the actual subject and verb; whatever's being said is actually the object. I said "X." is the sentence (subject, verb, and object); rearranging that, it needs to remain one cohesive sentence, therefore "X," I said.
The only exception is with punctuation that isn't a period; that is to say, exclamation and question marks remain themselves, unaltered.