



There's a perpetual debate amongst writers and grammarians on whether one should use "straight quotes " (two tiny lines) or “smart quotes ” (the curly ones that look like “inverted commas ”) in formal writing. In American punctuation style, the comma will go inside the quotation marks: E.g., “I watered your flowers today,” Tracey said. Whether single or double quotes, commas and periods generally go outside of the quoted materia in British punctuation: E.g “I watered your flowers today”, Tracey said. In both British and American punctuation styles, question marks and exclamation marks that apply to the whole sentence are put outside of quotation marks: E.g., Did she just say, “How old are you”? When question marks and exclamation marks apply to just the quoted part of the sentence (like No, she said, “How cold are you?”), they are placed inside quotation marks. Punctuation rules for when quotation marks are in use also differ between American and British styles. By 1749, they were used prodigiously in various texts, and at that time, single quotation marks (also called inverted commas) were most often used.įor single quotation marks, some editors will insert an extra space between the double quote and the single quote within it, i.e., “Out of nowhere Tracey told me, ‘I don’t like you anymore,’ ” Mark said sadly. Before that point, direct speech in texts was marked by a change in font, or by simply indicating the speaker. Quotation marks were first cut from metal for typesetting purposes in the mid-16th century. In the following video, The Grammar Girl explains the use of single vs double quotes: When a quote is “opened” to mark the start of direct speech, title, or irony, it must be closed with the same punctuation (i.e., “She walked her dog today,” not “She walked her dog today,’ or “She walked her dog today). The quotation mark is a pair of symbols, and the text in question must be enclosed within. “I don’t like you anymore, ’ said Tracey.ĭouble quotes as direct speech with single quotes as quote within - and as irony Mixing quotation marks is considered an error. While not technically incorrect, the use of single quotation marks to mark speech is uncommon in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Often incorrectly used to emphasize a word or phrase. OR Headline: ‘Negotiations in progress, ’ say local officials OR Carl said, “That ‘Ozymandias’ episode of Breaking Bad really knocked my socks off.” “Out of nowhere Tracey told me, ‘I don’t like you anymore, ’ ” Mark said sadly. OR Did you see the “Ozymandias” episode of Breaking Bad? OR We’ll see what happens with these “negotiations” politicians insist are in progress. To enclose a quote within a quote to enclose a quote within a headline to enclose a title within a quote
#WHY USE DOUBLE SINGLE QUOTES DATABASE TV#
To mark speech in a piece of writing titles of short works like TV shows and articles as scare quotes to indicate author’s disagreement with a premise (or irony)
