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28 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Quotation marks are used to indicate DIRECT SPEECH.
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Mr Thompson said, "There will be no homework over this weekend."
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Quotation marks are used to QUOTE (repeat) someone else's words.
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Martin Luther King said: "I have a dream!"
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Single quotation marks were traditionally used to indicate the TITLES of books and films. In MODERN USAGE, however, these titles are often UNDERLINED
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'Little Women' by Louisa M. Alcott may now be written as Little Women (underlined) by Louisa M. Alcott.
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Quotation marks are used to 'excuse' oneself for using slang or foreign words.
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Our new station wagon is used for 'schlepping' the soccer team.
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Quotation marks indicate METAPHORIC usage.
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I am the 'baby' of the family.
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How to Use Quotation Marks (“)
There are two reasons to use quotation marks in English writing: |
The first reason is that you are quoting someone; that is to say you are using someone else’s exact words, and you are giving that person credit for having said them.
The second reason you might use quotation marks in English is if you are being sarcastic. |
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How to Use Quotation Marks to Quote Someone
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Maybe you’re writing a research paper, and you need to quote a source, or perhaps you’re writing an article about the Gettysburg Address, and you need to quote Abraham Lincoln, or maybe you’re writing an email to your bff about your date last night, and you need to quote what he said to you. In any of these cases, you need to use quotation marks (“ ”).
Quite simply put, you just surround the quoted text with quotation marks. Any words that are not your own original words should be inside the quotation marks. “Four score and seven years ago...”Generally speaking, however, when you use a quote, you will put it into some sort of context so it’s not standing all alone. If this is the case (and it usually is), then we need to talk about punctuation. |
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How to Punctuate a Quote
Basically, any punctuation that comes before the beginning of the quote goes outside of the quotation marks, and any punctuation that comes at the end of the quote stays inside the marks. Study these examples: Then he said “How would you like to get some ice cream after the movie?” In this sentence, there is a lead-in to the quote. Notice that at the end of the lead-in, before the quote begins, there is a comma. And at the end of the quote, still inside the quotation marks, is the question mark. |
“I would love to,” I replied, “but I really ought to go home.”
Here, the quote is divided into two phrases - “I would love to” and “but I really ought to go home.” This is one sentence, that has been split up to identify the speaker in the middle. You can break up a quote like this as long as you split it at an appropriate place, and there are three appropriate places to divide a quote: Between clauses - She buys in bulk / because it’s cheaper. Before the main clause starts - In the spring, / I like to sit outside and read. Before the verb - The man in the tuxedo / had been staring intently into his bourbon for the better part of an hour. “Oh,” he said sadly and turned to walk away. In this final sentence, the quote comes at the beginning. If the quote would normally end with a period like this one, use a comma inside the quotation marks, and then continue the sentence outside. If the quote would end with a question mark or an exclamation point, use that inside, and then continue the sentence outside the quotation marks.“Where are you going?” she asked.“I love it!” he exclaimed. |
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If your quoted text is a complete sentence (or multiple sentences), capitalize the first letter of the sentence(s) regardless of where you put the quote within the larger sentence. “We went to the movies,” she said.
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She said, “We went to the movies.”
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How to Use Quotation Marks to Show Sarcasm
The other reason one might use quotation marks in English is to show sarcasm. For example, let’s say Natalie and Mike are friends. They hang out a couple of times a week to watch their favorite TV show or play Rock Band. Natalie’s girlfriends suspect that something more is brewing between the two of them. Natalie is chatting online with her friend Kendra. Observe: |
Kendra: What are you doing tonight?
Natalie: I’m going over to Mike’s to watch Lost. Kendra: Yeah right. Natalie: What? Kendra: Nothing. You just seem to be over there “watching Lost” an awful lot. In this case, Kendra does not believe that Natalie and Mike are actually watching Lost together. She is implying by the use of her quotation marks that the two of them are actually doing something else. |
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How to Use Quotation Marks to Show Sarcasm
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Or here’s another example: Leaf is an avant-garde, hippie artist who gave up his internal combustion engine some time in the late 90s. He has been experimenting lately, however, with vehicles that run on compost and human excrement, but he can’t get a date because no girl wants to be seen in his “car.” Girls, you see, do not see this vehicle as a legitimate car, so when they discuss it, they use the quotation marks to indicate their sarcasm.
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When to Use Quotation Marks
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Aside from conveying that a character in a text is speaking, quotation marks have other uses. One is to set off the title of a book or movie. Another i to denote irony or that the speech is not to be taken at the obvious value the words would seem to mean.
For example, if one were to notice an elderly woman who claimed to not remember any of the events of World War 2 (because she didn’t want to reveal her age, although her age was obvious), one might say, “She certainly is “young” for her age.” The use of quotation marks around the word “young” implies that the woman is anything but young! It’s a droll form of irony (or in spoken speech, sarcasm), and the intent is denoted by the use of quotation marks. |
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Other practice using quotation marks might involve their use around a nickname.
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The famous mid-20th century singer, Nat “King” Cole, was not born with name “King.” It was a nickname given to him by his fellow musicians for the smooth and easy way he had with singing.
One might refer to a Nat Cole, but it’s doubtful anyone would know who you meant. “King” is part of the singer’s name to anyone who remembers him, and the use of the quotation marks around the “King” indicates that the title isn’t a birthname, but a nickname. |
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Quotation Marks Basics
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In very early editions of the Bible, there aren’t any quotation marks. The speakers are indicated by the use of their name, followed by what they said. This was at the very earliest beginnings of typography, particularly in the use of moveable type, that it became clear another use would have to be found for setting off the speech of a character.
That’s simply because “John said” and “Mary said” and “John said,” all in a row, is very boring and interferes with the flow of text for the reader. Printers realized this, and the earliest ones came up with the idea of somehow setting off the speech of character by a means of making it different from the rest of the text. Initially, this was by indentation. The typesetter would indent the quoted speech of a character in the text of a document, so that the reader would know that what was being said was coming from that one singular speaker. If the text, however, had a great amount of spoken dialogue, without much action between quotes, the use of indentation became problematic. It was hard for the reader to follow who was saying what, if most of the text was indented. |
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Using Single Quotation Marks
Quotation Within a Quotation The most common usage of the single quotation mark is when you are quoting someone within a quotation. You have probably seen this format used in different types of papers, books, interviews, newspaper stories, and so forth. |
Here are some examples to make you more familiar with this primary example of the use of single quotation marks:
I heard Sam say that "Joe went to the store and bumped into Alex. When he saw her, he said 'I hope that we will see you at the party next Friday!'" The story said that, "All of the stores have burned down. The shop owner screamed 'I cannot believe this as happening!' as the flames engulfed her shop." Jason told Mark, "I saw Cynthia the other day, and she said 'I'm really looking forward to Mark's graduation!'" |
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Quotation Within a Headline
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If your headline was the title of a short story in quotation marks, yet you had a quotation within that quotation, you would use the single quotation marks for that second piece of information. Generally, you will see this format used when the headline is in reference to someone who said something.
Protesters cried 'No more high taxes!' President says 'Don't worry America.' Heroic Mom says 'I did it for my kids.' American vs. British Sometimes you might see a word set off in a specific discipline, particularly philosophy or theology. In Britain, they generally always set these words off with single quotation marks. However, in America, some use double quotation marks and others use singular quotation marks. If you are writing in a specific discipline, check with the guidelines of the institution or publication for which you are writing. Some common uses by the British include: 'anima' 'animus' 'zeit' 'libertas' |
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Titles Using Italics and Quotation Marks
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How to properly write titles using italics and quotation marks are questions a lot of us have. Italics are used for large works, names of vehicles, and movie and television show titles. Quotation marks are reserved for sections of works, like the titles of chapters, magazine articles, poems, and short stories. Let’s look at these rules in detail, so you'll know how to do this in the future when writing.
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Titles Using Italics and Quotation Marks
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Italics and quotation marks are used for titles of books, plays and other works of art. These italics and quotation marks are used to set the title apart from the text surrounding it. For example, if you were writing a sentence that explained "I read The Cat in the Hat" it wouldn't necessarily be clear exactly what the title was, or even that there was a title at all.
As such, italics and quotation marks are used to offset the title and to make it stand out from the rest of the text. A sentence reading: I read The Cat in the Hat or I read "The Cat in the Hat" is suddenly a lot more clear. We know now what you read. However, which should you use? Should you set off a title with italics or should you set it off with quotation marks? The rules for titles using italics and quotation marks can answer that question for you. |
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When to Use Quotation Marks
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Quotation marks enclose the titles of:
Short works Sections of long works including chapters, articles, songs, short stories, essays, poems, short films, and any other time a long work is included in an anthology or collection. Technically, television shows and movies are to be italicized because individual scenes or episodes would be put in quotation marks. However, many times these titles are put in quotation marks and you will find this done quite often, especially in reviews. |
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When NOT to Use Titles or Quotation Marks
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Titles of things that should not be in italics or quotation marks are:
Scriptures of major religions (italicize the title of the published version) Constitutional documents Legal documents Traditional games (such as leapfrog) Software Commercial products (such as Cocoa Puffs) By practicing the above rules for using italics and quotation marks you will find that it will become easier to determine what you should use. It will also help your learning curve if you take the time to concentrate on how they are used in books and articles you are reading. |
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Using Quotation Marks When Citing Information
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When preparing a thorough research paper, it is important to know the rules for citations, especially using quotation marks when citing information.
According to the Modern Language Association (MLA), there are specific rules when you should, or should not, be using quotation marks when citing information. To avoid over-using quotation marks, or misusing them, consider the following rules. |
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Using Quotation Marks When Citing Information
Quotation marks (“ ”) are a form of punctuation that set some text apart from other text. They are used for things that people have said, or that are being drawn verbatim from a piece of writing. |
Quotation marks are also used when citing particular sources, including:
Short stories Poems Articles in newspapers and other periodicals Subsets of books (as in Part I or Chapter 12 of a text) Songs Essays Episodes of TV or radio programming For example, if you might quote the acclaimed poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow like this, “In his poem, “The Village Blacksmith,” Longfellow celebrates the family, the working man, and the value of hard work.” There are primarily two forms of quotation marks – double quotes “ ” and single quotes ‘’ which have different uses. |
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Use of Quotation Marks
Double quotation marks are used to set aside the spoken word, or a quote from a piece of literature, or a name of a song, episode, short story, poem, or article. Single quotation marks are used to set aside quotes within quotes. Here’s an example, |
In the story, Janice explained that “‘If I was of such a mindset, I would have surely died long ago!’”
In essence here you are quoting a line in a story, which is an actual quoted, spoken word by a character in that story. You will also commonly use quotation marks within parenthetical references. So, when creating a works cited reference, you will need to refer to the name of the article, short story, song, or poem within quotations, within the parenthesis for the citation. |
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Quotation marks may also be used
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when citing words that are used as definitions, or as special-case terms or words with unusual spellings.
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When Not to Use Quotation Marks
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If you are quoting more than four lines of material in your research paper, do not use quotation marks.
The only exception to not using quotation marks in this instance is when you are actually quoting speech within the long quote. In such a case, put only the speech portion of your quote in double quotation marks. Such a long quotation can be difficult to follow if kept within the body of your paper. Instead, separate this text with two tabs from the left margin, and block indent the entire quotation |
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Quoting a Line in a Book or Poem and Spacing Correctly
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When you are quoting a specific line of literature, you must include quotations around that line, followed by appropriate punctuation within the quotations. According to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, you must consider the following spacing rules when working with quotations:
Double-space all quoted lines Double-space above and below quotation marks Indent the quotation from the left margin Punctuation Rules When Citing with Quotation Marks According to MLA, only periods and commas are to be placed within quotations. All other forms of punctuation remain outside of the quotes. However, this holds true within American English constructions of quotations. |
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The yourDictionary website defines quotations marks ( “” ) as :
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“ Either of a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word, but also to indicate meanings or glosses and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word.”
For example, whenever this article has copied direct definitions from yourDictionary, quotation marks have been placed around the item. Single quotation (‘') are used most frequently for quotes within quotes. |
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Some Things to Remember
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We do not italicize parts of larger works. For example, chapters in a book, poems, sections of newspapers, songs in a CD.
Instead we use quotation marks (We heard the song "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson on the radio three times last night). |
