Prose checks › Chicago style Pro
Prose check: punctuation style (Chicago)The comma goes inside.
Most US publishers follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Falcontext checks two Chicago style rules that drafts break most.
In Falcontext’s Edit tab, Punctuation style (Chicago) is one part of Punctuation rules, with dialogue punctuation. Each part has its own light, and the worst sets the check’s.
What it checks
- Commas and full stops inside the closing quote: “We leave at dawn,” she said. Not “dawn”, she said.
- Numbers up to a hundred in words: twelve of them, not 12.
What it leaves to you
How you set your dashes. Chicago has a view; your book is allowed one too. The dashes check makes sure they match.
Writing for UK readers? Many UK publishers put the comma outside. Then this check isn’t for you: ignore it.
How Falcontext checks Chicago style
Guidelines, not rules. Writing for UK readers? Then this one isn’t for you. Ignore away.
- Finds
- Commas and full stops outside the closing quotation mark, and numbers up to a hundred in figures.
- Traffic light
- Nothing to change
- 1–5
- 6 or more
- Fix
- Fix writes the number out or moves the comma in; browser editors and Perch, the web app, only.
Chicago punctuation is copyediting, so it waits for the last pass of the self-editing guide, when you’ve stopped rewriting.
US or UK punctuation for your books?
Questions about Chicago style.
Does the comma go inside or outside the quotation marks?
In US (Chicago) style, inside: “Hello,” she said. Many UK publishers put it outside when it isn’t part of the quote.
Should numbers be written out in fiction?
Chicago style spells out numbers up to a hundred, which most US fiction follows. Falcontext flags the ones in figures.
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