myQBook English Grammar Concepts




Quotation Marks

Double Quotations (“)

Double quotation marks are used mainly to enclose a quotation.

For example:

John replied, “I would never accompany such a person on a trip.”

Here, the double quotation marks are used to enclose John's quote.

There are some other significant uses for quotation marks:

1.       To signify one or more words that are being explained.

Consider the following example:

The word “consider” in the previous sentence is a verb.

In this example, the word “consider” is being defined. Therefore, quotation marks are used.

 

2.       To signify parts of a work or short works.

For example:

The article “Never been better” in yesterday’s newspaper was hilarious!

Here, the article is part of the entire newspaper, so it has quotation marks around it.

Also, remember that titles of major works are underlined on paper and italicized on a computer.

 

Punctuating Quotations

There are a few rules to follow when using quotations in sentences.

1.       Capitalize the first word of the quotation if it is a complete sentence.

For example:

“I don’t think this was an accident,” Joe said.

 

Here, the first word of the quotation is capitalized because the quotation is a complete sentence.

 

2.       End a quotation with a comma if it is not the end of the sentence. If it is the end of the sentence, use whichever end punctuation mark is necessary. In both cases, place the quotation marks outside the punctuation mark.

Consider the following examples:

“I don’t think this was an accident,” Joe said.

Joe said, “I don’t think this was an accident.”

 

In the first example, the quotation ends with a comma because it is not the end of the sentence. In the second example, the quotation ends with a period because it is the end of the sentence. Notice that in both cases, the quotation marks are outside of the punctuation marks.

 

There are a few exceptions to this rule; these exceptions will be covered in the next grade concepts.

 

3.       Use commas to introduce quotations.

Consider the example from above:

Joe said, “I don’t think this was an accident.”

 

Here, a comma is used after “Joe said” to introduce the quotation. The quotation marks follow the comma.

 

Sometimes, the quotation will be split in two parts with some words in between. Here, all of the above rules are necessary.

For example:

 

“What would you do,” Nikita said, “if an elephant came into your house?”

 

First of all, the first letter of the quotation is capitalized because the entire quotation (both parts) is a complete sentence.

 

Second, a comma is used to end the first part of the quotation because it is not the end of the sentence. The quotation marks are placed outside the comma.

 

Third, a comma is used to introduce the second part of the quotation. The quotation mark comes after the comma.

 

Finally, the second part of the quotation ends with a question mark because it is the end of the sentence. The quotation marks are placed outside of the question mark.

 

 

Single Quotations (‘)

Single quotation marks have one common use: to enclose a quotation within a quotation. They are used when you are quoting someone, who is in turn quoting someone else.

For example:

Ashley reported, “When a member of the Soviet Union said, ‘We will bury you!’ he was angry at the United States.”

In this example, the writer is quoting Ashley, and Ashley is quoting a member of the Soviet Union. For a quotation-within-a-quotation, we use single quotation marks.

 





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