"!" hi?

[Smoozle]

I was reading a book recently (Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett) and I noticed that after a word that had been said, there was an exclamation mark and then word after was uncapatalised.

E.G. "I like pie!" said Nanny.

Is this incorrect or do I not know what I'm talking about?  

[Ishita_Kanzar]

It's a preference for writers (I prefer to have it uncapitalised because having a capital makes it look unbalanced), but Microsoft Word labels it a grammatical error. Technically, if you finish a sentence, then you must capitalise the first letter of the following sentence, which is why Word does that. I'm not really sure if it's literally a grammatical error, but the signs point to 'yes', Pratchett (or his editor) has prioritized aesthetics over correct grammar.  

[Angel80272]

Actually, depending on the situation, I was taught that it is optional to capitalize the next letter after a line of dialog. It's also an aesthetic preference, so I believe that it could easily be correct.  

[The Man who was Thursday]

Because it's an exclamation point in someone's speech, yeah.  

[Smoozle]

Oh... OK, thank you.  

[sdfghjklsdfghjskldfghjkls]

I'm not sure. It does seem unusual, but I often see it. I think it could be just another crutch of laziness the English language has fallen upon.  

[ririnyan]

"This is the way I was taught to punctuate!" cried Ririnyan.

I've always been taught that that is the correct way to punctuate speech, to disregard the punctuation inside the question marks when it comes to continuing the sentence. I have also always been taught that if the phrase being spoken would otherwise end with a period, you should use a comma.

"This grammar is interesting but can be hard work," mused the girl.

I think this indicates the relationship between the two parts of the sentence; that however the speech ends, what follows it should be considered a continuation of the sentence.

The only other explanations I can think of for why it would be correct in the context of the novel and not correct to a spellchecker program are either that a) the spellchecker wasn't programmed to recognise that rule (which seems odd) or b) it's a British variation. Terry Pratchett is an English writer, and I'm English too, so it would figure if this were an English variant. That said, I'm quite sure I've seem that variant used in American publications.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

This is how I was taught.

"Hi. How are you?" said Bob.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking," said Ben.

"Let's go to the movies!" shouted Dave.

"No need to shout, Dave," said Rob and Bob.  

[ramforce]

Yami no Hitokiri

This is how I was taught.

"Hi. How are you?" said Bob.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking," said Ben.

"Let's go to the movies!" shouted Dave.

"No need to shout, Dave," said Rob and Bob.

Good call, it should be in lowercase because the sentence hasn’t finished yet. If you capitalize, you bypass the use of the quotation marks in the sentence.  

[splashseal]

I hate when Word corrects that. I've never capitalised the word following either an exclamation or question mark in quotes. I've learned just as Yami no Hitokiri has said. To capitalise it means you are beginning a new sentence.