Quotation Marks: A General Explanation of How They Are Used
by Tina Blue
January 5, 2001
In an earlier article I dealt with the question of where to place a period or a comma with quotation marks. At the time, I promised a more comprehensive treatment of the proper use of quotation marks. This article is intended to fulfill that promise. One special use of quotation marks is to punctuate certain types of titles within a body of prose. As I have already addressed that matter in another article ("Which Titles Are Italicized and Which Are Enclosed in Quotation Marks?"), I will not deal with it in this one. 1. SINGLE OR DOUBLE?
According to American usage, the standard form is the double quotation mark. Thus, in American usage, single quotation marks are only used within double quotation marks, to indicate a quotation within a quotation: ~The teacher asked, "Who said, 'Give me liberty or give me death'?" A quotation within a quotation within a quotation (a fairly rare occurrence) would alternate double-single-double quotation marks, thus: ~Mrs. Smith asked, "Did Mr. Henry actually ask, 'Who wrote, "To be or not to be, that is the question"?'" NOTE: British usage often, but not always, reverses American usage in the order of double and single quotation marks, beginning with single quotation marks and then using double quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation. (But Americans do not get a choice--we have to begin with double quotation marks and work from there.)
2. WITH DIRECT QUOTATIONS
Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation--i.e., the exact words of a speaker or writer who is being quoted ~The director remarked, "This foundation's books would not withstand too much scrutiny." ~The child whined, "Why can't I get a drink of water?" 3. WITH INTERRUPTED DIRECT QUOTATIONS
Use quotation marks to enclose each part of an interrupted direct quotation. ~"Diane," Eric asked, "have you finished reading that book yet?" ~"Frankly," she replied, "I don't see why that would be any of your business." 4. PUNCTUATION PRECEDING THE SPEAKER TAGS
The speaker tag (he said or its equivalent) is preceded by a comma, unless the quoted element that precedes it ends with a question mark or an exclamation point. (This rule pertains whether the quotation is interrupted by the speaker tag or not.) ~"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "You're never going to believe this!" 5. PUNCTUATION FOLLOWING THE SPEAKER TAG
The speaker tag is followed by a comma, unless a full stop (a period or a semicolon) is demanded by the grammatical elements, as in the preceding example. To test whether a comma or a full stop is needed, figure out what sort of mark would be used if the speaker tag were omitted. Use that mark after the inserted speaker tag.
In the preceding example, a full stop (the first exclamation point) would separate the two clauses, so a full stop (a period) is used to separate the speaker tag from the second part of the interrupted quotation: ~"Oh, my God! You're never going to believe this!" ~"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "You're never going to believe this!" ~"Don't look back," she said; "just make your decision and then follow through on it." ~"Don't look back," she said. "Just make your decision and then follow through on it." 6. QUOTATIONS EXTENDED OVER SEVERAL PARAGRAPHS
If a direct quotation (or, in dialogue, a single speaker's comments) goes for more than one paragraph, use quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph but at the end of only the last paragraph. 7. INDIRECT QUOTATIONS
Do not put quotation marks around an indirect quotation WRONG: The professor said that "I will lose ten points if I turn in the project late." RIGHT (Indirect): The professor said that I will lose ten points if I turn the project in late. RIGHT (Direct): The professor said, "You will lose ten points if you turn the project in late." WRONG: She replied that "She would be delighted to serve on the committee." RIGHT (Indirect): She replied that she would be delighted to serve on the committee. RIGHT (Direct): She replied, "I would be delighted to serve on the committee." 8. DIRECT OR INDIRECT QUOTATION?
Occasionally you get to choose whether to treat something as a direct or an indirect quotation, but since the modern trend in punctuation is toward the less cluttered look, I recommend treating the following examples as indirect quotations, unless there are compelling reasons for treating them as direct quotations. ~He answered yes. ~He answered, "Yes." ~To a request like that I have to say no. ~To a request like that I have to say, "No." 9. DON'T BLEND DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUOTATIONS
WRONG: Linda asked her sister had she already sent out the party invitations.RIGHT (Indirect): Linda asked her sister whether she had already sent out the party invitations. RIGHT (Direct): Linda asked her sister, "Have you already sent out the party invitations?" WRONG: I asked him what grade did he get in the course? RIGHT (Indirect): I asked him what grade he had gotten in the course. RIGHT (Direct): I asked him, "What grade did you get in the course?" 10. SETTING OFF WORDS USED AS TERMS OR WORDS USED IN A SPECIAL WAY
If you are setting off a word by describing it as "so-called," then you do not need to enclose the word in quotation marks, as the word "so-called" serves that function already: ~Jenny couldn't believe that her daughter was being accused of keeping company with a so-called juvenile delinquent. However, if you are referring to a word as a word or term (as I did with "so-called" just now and as I do with "vocabulary" in the next paragraph), then you will want to set it off either with quotation marks or with italics. If there are many such references, italics are preferred because they create a much less cluttered look. And if the reader is likely to want to make note of "vocabulary" terms (as in a book or article on a technical subject), italics serve to highlight the important terms more effectively.But for the occasional reference to a word as a word or to a word being used in some specialized way, quotation marks serve nicely. 
