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QUOTATION MARKS

  • PURPOSE:

    • Put “  ” around the exact words of a speaker:

      • This is a direct quote and not a paraphrase.

        • She said, “It was cold.” (her exact words)

        • She said that it was cold. (the gist of what she said)
           

  • TYPING & PUNCTUATION:

    • Place a COMMA after the introductory verb, space, quotation mark (“), capital letter, exact words, end punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation mark), end quotation mark (”).

  • Within the quote or without:
    • PERIODS and COMMAS go within the quotation marks.
    • SEMICOLONS and COLONS go outside the quotation marks.
    • QUESTION and EXCLAMATION marks depend:
      • If the quoted sentence is a question, use a Question Mark (?).
        • Jill asked, “Could you repeat the part about the harvest motif?”
      • If the quoted sentence is an exclamation, use an Exclamation Mark (!).
        • Bobby exclaimed, “I got an A on my Psych. Test!”
      • If the sentence outside the quotation marks is a question, place the (?) outside the end quotation mark.
        • Did the teacher just say, “There’s a test tomorrow”?
      • If both sentences are questions, place the (?) outside of the end quotation mark.
        • Did she really ask Dr. Housenick, “Are you going to count that quiz grade”?
  • Single and Double Quotes:
    • If you quote a source who has quoted another source, place single quotes (‘  ’) within the double quotes (“  ”).
    • Perhaps a baseball analogy will clarify this:
      • a single is within a double, but a double is not within a single, because you have to go to first base before you can get to second
    • Dr. Jane Smith argues, “Claims regarding Shakespeare’s sexuality are futile, baseless, and argumentative at best; the simple truth remains, as Professor Bloom succinctly repeats, ‘we shall never know’” (86).
      • Notice that there is no space between the single and double quotes at the end.

 

  • OTHER USES:

    • Put “  ” around titles of short items:

      • titles of magazine, journal, or newspaper articles; book chapters;

      • short stories; short poems; songs; television episodes

    • Put “  ” around slang words:

      • The students grimaced when the professor used the term “pimped out” to describe his car.