Grammatically correct speech?

[Silent_Vibrava]

I seem to have trouble understanding the grammar for writing speech. For example:

"Awesome," Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested, "what happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

"Awesome," Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested, "What happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

"Awesome." Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested, "what happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

"Awesome." Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested. "What happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

Which of the above is grammatically correct, if any? Is there a guide I can look at? I looked in Google, and I didn't find anything. Maybe I'm not using the right terminology?

 

[Negrek]

The answer is... none of them!

"Awesome," Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested. "What happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

Unless you intend for the first statement in the dialogue to be, "Awesome, what happened?" Then your first example is correct. I'm assuming that what you want is instead, "Awesome. What happened?"

You'd probably do better Googling for the punctuation of dialogue, rather than grammar, because this isn't a grammar question. Here's a pretty concise guide.

 

[Venia Silente]

That guide seems to bee for American English only, it seems? As far as I can see for the focus on the "meta punctuations go inside the quoting" part, at least. Still, seems to be very helpful as I have had a similar problem before on how to / if to capitalize parts of a dialogue that are split by narration.

 

[Negrek]

Yes, that guide is specifically targeted towards American English. As far as I know there aren't any differences in dialogue punctuation between that and other forms of English, but there definitely are differences in the way quotation marks are used between American and British English.

 

[PhantomX0990]

To be a little more specific, American English uses double quotes, British only single.

Otherwise they should be the same.

IE:

American--> "Hello, nice to meet you," she said.
British--> 'Hello, nice to meet you,' she said.

As for the bit you posted, it should be:

"Awesome," Cornelius said as he spun around in his chair to face them but then gave a perplexed look at the absence of the items he requested. "What happened? Did you get the spark plugs yet?"

I only corrected dialogue puntuation.

 

[Praxiteles]

Possibly Negrek was talking about where commas go when quotation marks are placed around things that aren't dialogue: for example, if you're naming a book ("War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy) or talking about what a phrase means (the expression "apple of his eye"). In British English, if there's supposed to be a comma or full stop just outside the quotes -- so it belongs to the whole sentence, not the quoted passage -- it stays outside the quotes:

I read "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina" and "The Kreutzer Sonata".
The correct term is "aristocracy", but you should look it up.

In American style, the punctuation marks almost always get absorbed inside the quotes:

I read "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina," and "The Kreutzer Sonata."
The correct term is "aristocracy," but you should look it up.