When should you use
double quotation marks?
Double quotation marks in American
English have five purposes:
1 Indicate that a passage or word is copied
verbatim from another source (a direct quote)
2 Show dialogue or transcribe speech
3 Signal the titles of short works, like poems or
songs
4 Set apart a word, usually to signify irony,
sarcasm, or skepticism
5 Differentiate a nickname from a given name
Let’s take a look at each of these
individually.
Quoting a source
Double quotation marks show that a
passage of text is copied word-for-word from another source. If you’re using
another person’s text in your writing, put the copied words in between double
quotation marks.
James Daybell insists
Shakespeare was educated because of how he wrote female characters, which
“depict women across the social spectrum composing, reading, or delivering
letters.”
If punctuation had personalities,
you might say that quotation marks are good for advice because they’re always
sharing the wisdom of others through quotes.
Keep in mind that quotation marks
are unnecessary for indirect or paraphrased speech. They’re only used
to indicate a direct quote, so if you’re rephrasing what someone said in your
own words, you don’t need them.
James Daybell insists
Shakespeare was educated because his writing depicts women across the
socioeconomic spectrum as literate.
For passages of more than a
paragraph, use an opening quotation mark at the beginning of each new paragraph
and a single closing quotation mark at the end. Alternatively, you can set off
the passage a different way, such as indenting it further than the other text
or setting it in italics.
Showing dialogue or
speech
Like quoting other sources, double
quotation marks are also used when you quote speech and dialogue. Quotation
marks for dialogue are common in fiction writing to show a conversation
between characters, while nonfiction articles use them to transcribe speech
from eyewitnesses or interviews.
“Would you like a
receipt?” the cashier asked robotically.
Again, if you’re paraphrasing a
direct quote, you don’t need quotation marks.
The cashier asked if I
wanted a receipt.
Signifying titles
Another use of double quotation
marks is for the titles of short works. Typically, quotation marks are used for
poems, songs, articles, short stories, essays, and episode titles. For long
works like books, movies, plays, periodical names, and music albums, use italics instead.
“For Esmé—with Love and Squalor” is
my favorite short story from J. D. Salinger’s book Nine Stories.
You can see a complete list of
which types of works use quotation marks for titles here.
Setting words apart
Have you ever seen quotation
marks around a single word that’s not a quote and wondered what it means?
Sometimes, it’s a way to make a word or phrase stand out, usually to show that
it does not use its literal meaning.
Use double quotation marks to set
apart words, especially for the purposes of irony, sarcasm, skepticism, or
other nonstandard uses. When they’re used this way, these are known as “scare
quotes,” and they typically express doubt in the validity of the word, with the
same meaning as “so-called.”
My daughter made me a
“coffee mug” in art class, although it looked more like a bowl.
Our “boss” is
technically Arnold, but it’s Vera who’s really in charge.
Scare quotes are considered casual
language, so don’t use them in formal papers like academic writing.
Aside from their use as scare
quotes, double quotation marks can also show that a word is being discussed as
a word, without regard to its actual meaning. This is common in our Grammarly
blog, where we often talk about word usage.
“They’re” and “their”
are pronounced the same, but they’re two different words.
Nicknames
Last, double quotation marks also
differentiate nicknames from given names. They typically surround the nickname
when it comes between a person’s first and last names in writing.
Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson can’t escape his origins as a wrestler.
When should you use
single quotation marks?
In contrast to double quotation
marks, single quotation marks only have one purpose: They replace double
quotation marks inside of other quotation marks. This is typically seen in
quotes within quotes, such as when you’re quoting a person who’s quoting
another person.
The speaker told us,
“Whenever I’m feeling down, I remember what the poet Rumi said: ‘You are not
one drop in the ocean. You are the ocean in one drop.’”
Notice how the single quotation
marks work just like double quotation marks, but only within another pair of
quotation marks. If we take the Rumi quote out of the original quote, it uses
double quotation marks as normal.
Whenever I’m feeling
down, I remember what the poet Rumi said: “You are not one drop in the ocean.
You are the ocean in one drop.”
We do this simply for the sake of
clarity. If we used double quotation marks inside double quotation marks, it
would be difficult to tell when one quote ended and another began. Alternating
single and double quotation marks makes reading easier.
This also applies to titles, when a
short work uses the name of another short work in its title. For example, say
you’re researching a Robert Frost poem and you find an essay you want to
discuss. Its title, when you refer to it, would look like this:
“A Retrospective on ‘The Road Not
Taken’ and Its Themes”
When we talk about “The Road Not
Taken” on its own, we use the normal double quotation marks. However, when we
talk about it inside other quotes, we use single quotation marks.
However, if the main title is in
italics, as with books, we use the standard double quotation marks for titles
within that. For example, a book that collects short stories:
Farnsworth’s “A Haunted
Mansion,” Everdeen’s “Black Cats,” and Other Ghostly Tales
Quotation marks in
American English vs. British English
All the above rules apply to
quotation marks in America—and the majority of Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand. But what about British English?
Quotation marks in British English
reverse single and double quotation marks, so single quotation marks are the
standard, and double quotation marks are used only for a quote within a quote.
American English: “The chef told
me, ‘Anything you order is free,’” I said to the waiter.
British English: ‘The chef told me,
“Anything you order is free,”’ I said to the waiter.
Otherwise, the rules are the same.
Single vs. double
quotation marks FAQs
How are single
quotation marks and double quotation marks used?
Double quotation marks in American
English are used for direct quotes, dialogue, titles of short works, the
emphasis of certain words, and separating nicknames from given names. Single
quotation marks are used to replace double quotation marks when they’re inside
of other double quotation marks.
What’s the difference
between quotation marks in American English and British English?
Single quotation marks and double
quotation marks are reversed in British English. While double quotation marks
are the standard in American English, single quotation marks are standard in
British English. That means double quotation marks in England are only used to
replace single quotation marks within quotes.
When should you use
single quotation marks in US English?
Single quotation marks are only
used inside double quotation marks. They follow the same rules as other quotes,
but only when replacing double quotation marks. Typically they show quotes
within quotes, as when one person is quoting what another person said.
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