How to Use Quotation Marks: Rules and Examples

Ever wonder how those little curly marks actually work? They seem simple, but quotation marks can trip up even experienced writers. Let's dive into the nitty-gritty of when and how to use them properly. You'll be surprised how many quotation mark rules you might be gettin' wrong!

The Basic Rules of Quotation Marks

Quotation marks might seem straightforward, but they've got more rules than a board game manual. When do you use double versus single quotes? Does the period go inside or outside? It's enough to make your head spin!

The most basic rule is pretty simple: use quotation marks to show exact words someone said. For example, my English teacher always said, "Quotation marks are your friends, not your enemies." But wait, there's more to it than just that.

In American English, we typically use double quotation marks (" ") as the primary or outer quotation marks. The British? They do things differently—they prefer single quotation marks (' ') as their primary choice. Kinda like how they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, am I right?

Here's a quick breakdown of the basics:

Another tricky bit? Punctuation placement. In American English, periods and commas almost always go inside the quotation marks, even if they weren't part of the original quote. Crazy, I know! But colons and semicolons stay outside.

Punctuation with Quotation Marks

Okay, so punctuation with quotation marks is where things get real messy. Ever notice how sometimes the period goes inside the quotes and sometimes outside? There's actually method to this madness!

In American English, periods and commas ALWAYS go inside quotation marks. Always. No exceptions. My old journalism professor used to yell, "The period goes inside, people! I don't care what logic tells you!" And she was right—at least according to American style guides.

Question marks and exclamation points? Now they're trickier. They go inside IF they're part of the quoted material. Otherwise, they stay outside. Lemme show you:

• "Did you finish the report?" she asked. (Question mark is part of the quote)
• Did she say "the meeting is cancelled"? (Question mark isn't part of the quote)

Here's a handy table to remember where punctuation goes in American English:

But if you're writing for a British audience, throw all that out the window! In British English, logic prevails—punctuation goes inside quotation marks only if it's part of the original quote. Otherwise, it stays outside. Honestly, it makes more sense to me, but what do I know?

Another thing that drives me crazy: those darn quotation marks with other punctuation. Like when you have a quote inside parentheses—do the quotation marks go inside or outside the parentheses? (The answer is inside, like "this.") See what I did there?

Quotation Marks for Titles

Have you ever wondered whether to put quotes around a book title or underline it? Or maybe you've seen movie titles with quotation marks and thought, "That doesn't look right?" Well, there's actually a system to this madness!

The general rule is: use quotation marks for shorter works and italics (or underlining if handwriting) for longer, stand-alone works. But what counts as "shorter" vs "longer"? Let's break it down.

Lemme give you some examples. I just read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (short story = quotation marks), but I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby (novel = italics). My favorite song is "Bohemian Rhapsody" from the album A Night at the Opera. Make sense?

This rule gets even more confusing when your talking about titles within titles! If you're writing the title of an article that contains a book title, you'd have something like: "The Symbolism in The Great Gatsby" (article title in quotes, book title in italics).

Sometimes I catch myself using quotes for emphasis, like when I write "important" meeting to suggest it's not actually important. While this is technically allowed for irony or special meaning, most style guides recommend using this sparingly. Too many "special" words makes your writing look "unprofessional" real quick!

Direct Speech and Dialogue

Alright, let's chat about using quotation marks for what they were basically invented for: showing when people are actually speaking. This seems simple enough, but there's plenty of ways to mess it up!

When writing dialogue, you always put the exact words inside quotation marks. So if my friend says she's tired, I'd write: Sarah said, "I'm exhausted today." Notice how the comma comes before the quotation mark? That's important when introducing dialogue.

But what if you wanna break up someone's speech? Like this: "I don't know about you," said Jack, "but I'm ready for lunch." See how that works? The dialogue gets split, but the quotation marks show it's all one statement.

Different reporting verbs can change how you punctuate. Compare these:

• "I'm going home," she said.
• "I'm going home!" she exclaimed.
• "Are you going home?" she asked.

Let's talk about paragraphs of dialogue, cuz that's where things get weird. When a single person speaks for multiple paragraphs, you put opening quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but only put closing quotation marks at the end of the final paragraph. Kinda strange, right?

Notice how there's no closing quotation mark after the first paragraph? That signals to the reader that the same person is still talking.

One more tricky thing: Sometimes you need to quote something within dialogue. That's when you use single quotation marks (in American English). Like: "Did she really say 'I quit' in front of everyone?" asked Tom.

Remember, every new speaker gets a new paragraph. This helps readers keep track of who's sayin' what.

Quotation Marks for Irony and Special Terms

Ever seen someone use "air quotes" when they're talking? You know, when they make little finger gestures to show they're being sarcastic or don't really mean what they're saying? Well, quotation marks can do the same thing in writing—but be careful, cuz this can go wrong real fast!

Using quotation marks for irony is sometimes called scare quotes. They signal to the reader that you're using a term in a non-standard, ironic, or skeptical way. Like when I write about my "vacation" that was actually just me fixing stuff around the house all week.

But here's the problem—this can easily be overdone or misunderstood. There's even a whole internet meme about "unnecessary" quotation marks that make things sound suspicious:

• Please enjoy our "fresh" seafood
• Employee "bathroom"
• "Don't" steal

In each case, the quotes make it seem like the opposite might be true! That's probably not what the writer intended.

When should you actually use quotation marks for special terms? Here's my advice:

1. Use them the first time you introduce a technical term or jargon
2. Use them sparingly for irony (and consider whether italics might work better)
3. Don't use them for emphasis (that's what bold or italics are for)

For example, in a tech article, you might write: The process known as "machine learning" allows computers to improve automatically through experience. After that first mention, you'd drop the quotation marks.

Sometimes you'll see quotation marks used for words being discussed as words. Like: The word "love" appears 232 times in Shakespeare's sonnets. However, many style guides now recommend italics for this purpose instead.

Quotation marks can also indicate that you're distancing yourself from a term. A news article might say: The group calls themselves "freedom fighters," though the government considers them terrorists. This shows the writer isn't necessarily endorsing that label.

I've noticed quotation marks for special terms are especially tricky in academic writing. Some professors love em, others hate em. When in doubt, less is usually more!

Single vs. Double Quotation Marks

Okay, this is where things get confusing—single or double quotation marks? It's like the great debate between spaces or tabs for indentation (spaces are obviously superior, but that's a topic for another day).

In American English, we typically use double quotation marks (" ") as our go-to, primary quotation marks. Single quotation marks (' ') are reserved for quotes within quotes. But did ya know that British English does the exact opposite? They use single quotes as primary and double quotes for nested quotes. Wild, right?

Notice that sneaky comma placement difference too? American inside, British outside.

What happens when you have quotes within quotes within quotes? (Quote-ception!) You just keep alternating:

Honestly, it gets pretty messy after the second level of quotes. If you find yourself needing three levels of quotation marks, you might wanna consider rewriting for clarity!

Some style guides, especially in academia, use single quotation marks for specific purposes regardless of region. For instance, linguists might use single quotes to indicate meanings: The Latin word 'lupus' means 'wolf'.

Computer programmers often use different quotation marks for different purposes. In many languages, double quotes and single quotes have completely different functions! For example:

name = "John"
description = 'He said "Hello world!"'

Bottom line: check what style guide you're supposed to be following, and then be consistent throughout your document. And if you're writing for an international audience? Maybe pick one style and include a note about which convention you're using.

Common Mistakes with Quotation Marks

We all mess up quotation marks sometimes. Dont feel bad—even professional writers get confused! Here are some of the most common mistakes I see (and occasionally make myself... nobody's perfect).

One of the biggest errors is using quotation marks for emphasis. You know, like those signs that say:

This actually achieves the opposite effect—it makes these phrases look suspicious or sarcastic! If you want emphasis, use bold, italics, or underline instead.

Another frequent mistake is forgetting to start a new paragraph for a new speaker in dialogue. This creates confusion about who's saying what. Always give each speaker their own paragraph, even for short exchanges.

Inconsistent punctuation with quotation marks is another classic error. In American English, commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. Many writers forget this rule, especially when the quoted material doesn't seem to "own" the punctuation:

I've also noticed people struggle with quoted titles within quotes. The rule is to keep the original punctuation of the title:

And let's not forget the random use of quotation marks that makes perfectly innocent sentences sound creepy:

• "Homemade" cookies (implies they're not really homemade)
• Please use "clean" towels only (suggests the towels might not actually be clean)
• "Children" welcome (now it sounds like we're not sure they're really children?)

Some writers also get confused about when to use single vs. double quotation marks, especially when working across American and British styles. The key is just to pick one convention and stick with it throughout your document.

Lastly, watch out for those curly vs. straight quotation marks. Word processors often default to "smart quotes" (curly), but if you copy text from different sources, you might end up with a mix of "curly" and "straight" quotes, which looks unprofessional.

Advanced Tips for Using Quotation Marks

You've mastered the basics—now let's get fancy with some advanced quotation mark wizardry! These tips will take your punctuation game to the next level.

First up: block quotes. When you have a long quotation (usually 40+ words or 4+ lines), most style guides recommend using a block format instead of quotation marks. You indent the entire passage and don't use quotation marks at all. It looks super professional and avoids having a paragraph wrapped in quotes.

For example, instead of:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum at lacus congue, suscipit elit nec, tincidunt orci. Maecenas porttitor, tellus nec commodo hendrerit, lectus velit mollis urna, in pharetra."

You'd format it as:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum at lacus congue, suscipit elit nec, tincidunt orci. Maecenas porttitor, tellus nec commodo hendrerit, lectus velit mollis urna, in pharetra.

Another tricky situation is when you need to modify a quotation. Sometimes the original text doesn't fit grammatically into your sentence, or maybe you need to clarify something. That's when you use brackets [ ] to show your modifications:

What about omitting part of a quote? That's where ellipses come in. Use three periods (...) to show you've removed text:

But what if you're quoting something that already has an error? You don't want readers to think YOU made the mistake! That's when you use [sic] to indicate "yes, it was wrong in the original":

"Their [sic] going to announce the winner tomorrow."

This tells readers you know "their" should be "they're" but you're faithfully reproducing the error.

Here's a cool trick for dialogue that continues after narrative interruption. You don't need to start a new paragraph:

"I don't understand," she said. "Why would anyone do that?"

Notice how the second part remains in the same paragraph because it's the same speaker.

What about quotes within quotes within quotes? After double and single quotes, some style guides recommend using double quotation marks again, while others suggest italics. When in doubt, reword to avoid the third level!

And finally, a digital age tip: when writing URLs or code examples that contain quotation marks, it's best to use a monospace font or code formatting to avoid confusion:

This makes it clear which quotation marks are part of the code and which are part of your text.

Quotation Marks in Different Languages

Did you know quotation marks look completely different around the world? It's true! While English uses the familiar "quote" or 'quote' style, other languages have their own unique ways of showing direct speech.

In French, they use these cool angle brackets called guillemets: « comme ça ». But what's even more interesting is that they put spaces inside! So it looks like « this » instead of «this». They also often use em dashes (—) for dialogue instead of quotation marks.

German uses a mix of styles, but they love these low-high quotation marks: „like this". And for quotes within quotes? They switch to a single low-high format: ‚this'. Not confusing at all, right?

Spanish speakers use the same angle brackets as French: «así». But they don't always include the spaces. In some Spanish-speaking countries, they've started adopting the English style quotes too, especially online.

Here's a quick guide to quotation marks around the world:

Japanese and Chinese have their own special quotation characters that look nothing like Western ones! Japanese uses 「these corner brackets」 for quotes and 『these double corner brackets』 for quotes within quotes.

Another interesting fact: some languages put opening quotation marks at the bottom of the line and closing ones at the top, while others do the opposite.

What happens when you're writing in English but quoting something in another language? Generally, you follow the rules of the language you're writing in, not the language you're quoting from. So if I'm writing in English about a French book, I'd use English-style quotation marks even for the French quotes.

One more cool thing: in digital typography, there's a difference between "smart quotes" (the curly ones) and "straight quotes" (the vertical ones). Straight quotes came about because of typewriters and early computers, but most word processors now default to smart quotes, which look more professional.

When working with multiple languages, be sure to check your keyboard shortcuts for different quotation mark styles—they can save you tons of time!

Frequently Asked Questions