Some websites do not allow typographic quotation marks or apostrophes in posts. This is a continuation of a typewriter tradition of using ticks for opening quotation marks; see Quotation mark § Typewriters and early computers. In English, when a quotation follows other writing on a line of text, a space precedes the opening quotation mark unless the preceding symbol, such as an em dash, requires that there be no space. Americans tend to apply quotations when signifying doubt of veracity (sarcastically or seriously), to imply another meaning to a word or to imply a cynical take on a paraphrased quotation, without punctuation at all. According to the Jargon File from 1983, American hackers (members of a subculture of enthusiastic programmers) switched to what they later discovered to be the British quotation system because placing a period inside a quotation mark can change the meaning of data strings that are meant to be typed character-for-character. It is also similar to the use of quotation marks in many other languages (including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Catalan, Dutch and German).
There is no space on the internal side of quote marks, with the exception of 1?4 firet (? 1?4 em) space between two quotation marks when there are no other characters between them (e.g. ,„ and ’”). Unlike English, French does not identify unquoted material within a quotation by using a second set of quotation marks. French uses angle quotation marks (guillemets, or duck-foot quotes), adding a ‘quarter-em space’a within the quotes. British publishing is regarded as more flexible about whether double or single quotation marks should be used. If another set of quotation marks is nested inside single quotation marks, double quotation marks are used again, and they continue to alternate as necessary (though this is rarely done).
Quotation marks can be used when referring to a specific word or letter. The unpunctuated lead-in is most commonly used with run-in quotations, but it is also appropriate for introducing block quotations that flow directly from the introductory text. A very short quotation may also be introduced without punctuation. A period can be used to introduce a block quotation when the introductory text stands on its own as a complete sentence. It is also the mark most commonly used to introduce a block quotation. Longer quotations should be set off from the main text, and are referred to as block quotations.
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In American writing, quotation marks are normally the double kind (the primary style). If it is a space or another of a set of hard-coded characters or if the mark begins a line, the mark will be rendered as an opening quote; if not, it will be rendered as a closing quote or apostrophe. In Windows, AutoHotkey scripts can be used to assign simpler key combinations to opening and closing quotation marks. In some languages, if it is desired to include the same quotation marks used to delimit a string inside the string, the quotation marks are doubled. Double quotation marks, or pairs of single ones, also represent the ditto mark. Straight quotation marks (or italicised straight quotation marks) are often used to approximate the prime and double prime, e.g. when signifying feet and inches or arcminutes and arcseconds.
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- When a run-in quotation contains quotation marks within the quoted material itself, use single quotation marks in their place.
- Quotation marks can also set off a nickname embedded in an actual name, or a false or ironic title embedded in an actual title; for example, Nat “King” Cole, Frank “Chairman of the Board” Sinatra, or Simone Rizzo “Sam the Plumber” DeCavalcante.
- Even more commonly, many people put a normal (breaking) space inside the quotation markscitation needed because the non-breaking space cannot be accessed easily from the keyboard, or because they are not aware of this typographical refinement.
- There are other considerations for including curved quotes in the widely used markup languages HTML, XML, and SGML.
- Also note that, as a courtesy, there is visible space between adjacent single and double quotation marks.
Another style of quoting is to use an em-dash to open a quote; this is used almost exclusively for quoting dialogues rather than for single statements, and is virtually always the one used for that purpose in works of fiction. In Polish printed books and publications, this dictionary-recommended style for guillemets (also known as »German quotes«) is used almost exclusively. Guillemet marks pointing outwards are used for definitions (mainly in scientific publications and dictionaries), as well as for enclosing spoken lines and indirect speech, especially in poetic texts. But the most frequent convention used in printed books for nested quotations is to style them in italics.
Direct quotes use the exact words from a source and require quotation marks. The curved quotation marks, as well as the straight single quotation mark, are permitted. Other usages of quotation marks (“quote„ for double, ‹quote› for single) are obsolete in Portuguese.citation needed.
- Use quotation marks to draw attention to words or language in your writing.
- Double quotation marks, or pairs of single ones, also represent the ditto mark.
- But the most frequent convention used in printed books for nested quotations is to style them in italics.
- It helps to break down the rules for when to use quotation marks by their function.
- The American style is used by most newspapers, publishing houses, and style guides in the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada as well.
- In the United States, the prevailing style is called American style, whereby commas and periods are almost always placed inside closing quotation marks.
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In both major styles, regardless of placement, only one end mark (?, !, or .) can end a sentence. A few US professional societies whose professions frequently employ various non-word characters, such as chemistry and computer programming, use the British form in their style guides (see ACS Style Guide). They are sometimes gestured in oral speech using air quotes, or indicated in speech with a tone change or by replacement with supposedly or so-called. This is because indirect speech can be a paraphrase; it is not a direct quote, and in the course of any composition, it is important to document when one is using a quotation versus when one is just giving content, which may be paraphrased, and which could be open to interpretation. Single quotes are more usual in the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa, though double quotes are also common there, especially in journalistic worksclarification needed. This rule is optional with one-word quotations.
Do question marks and exclamation marks go inside quotes?
With regard to quotation marks adjacent to periods and commas, there are two styles of punctuation in widespread use. Despite being semantically different, the typographic closing single quotation mark and the typographic apostrophe have the same visual appearance and code point (U+2019), as do the neutral single quote and typewriter apostrophe (U+0027). Never use single quotation marks in sentences like the previous three.
Quotation marks in English
Using quotation marks to indicate height is informal yet widely accepted. If you write a person’s nickname alongside their given name, set it apart with quotation marks so the reader knows it’s not part of their formal name. Depending on the styling format, some writers alternatively use italics without quotation marks.
But there are still applications which still use the older character sets, or output data using them, and thus problems still occur. This style is particularly common in Bulgarian, French, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese. A quotation dash is also used, and is predominant in belletristic literature.
Some computer software has the feature often called “smart quotes” which can, sometimes imperfectly, convert neutral quotation marks to typographic ones. Note that the period goes inside both the single and double quotation marks. Use double quotation marks to set off a direct (word-for-word) quotation.
When the quoted material flows directly from your introductory text, no punctuation should be used before the quotation. Short quotations can generally be run in to the main text using quotation marks. Unless they are part of the original quotation, all marks other than commas or periods are placed outside the quotation marks. Commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks, even though they aren’t part of the original quotation. Though not necessarily logical, the American rules for multiple punctuation with quotation marks are firmly established. But make sure to place closing quotation marks only at the end of the entire passage, not at the end of each paragraph.
In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, speech marks, quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name. When the material being quoted contains a quotation within a quotation (i.e., something in single quotation marks), use double quotation marks. In all major forms of English, question marks, exclamation marks, semicolons, and any other punctuation (with the possible exceptions of spinorhino casino periods and commas, as explained in the sections below) are placed inside or outside the closing quotation mark depending on whether they are part of the quoted material. When a run-in quotation contains quotation marks within the quoted material itself, use single quotation marks in their place. Most large newspapers have kept these low-high quotation marks, „ and ”; otherwise, the alternative form with single or double English-style quotes is now often the only form seen in printed matter.
(1) To identify previously spoken or written words. This includes individual words, phrases, or separate clauses. However, no capitalization is necessary if you’re not quoting a complete sentence. In that case, it begins with a lowercase letter, even if the original sentence begins with a capitalized letter.
Both quotation marks and italics are used for the titles of works, but certain types of works use only quotes, and others use only italics. Use sic within quotations to indicate that any spelling, punctuation, grammatical errors, or unusual phrases are part of the original quoted material. Place a comma inside the quotation marks at the end of a quoted phrase. If you’re using the same word, sentence, or phrase as another author, put those words between quotation marks.
