Quotation Marks

This lesson is on quotation marks.

These are used to reproduce exactly what somebody said there are capitalization and punctuation rules that we need to be aware of.

There are also differences in the UK and US the quote can be a single word a phrase or even a whole sentence and the quote can be single or double quotation marks.

As shown here who both are used in nested quotes it can be used to highlight a specific part of a question it can also be used sarcastically or ironically quotation marks are also used with titles of films books and other creative works.

And lastly they’re used as a short form for feet and inches and we’ll see examples of all of these now there are capitalization and punctuation rules that we need to be aware of as we see here.

She told me breakfast is ready.

Now the narrator part she told me and the direct quote in quotation marks.

Breakfast is ready always separated by a comma and the part in the quotation marks starts with a capital letter as if it was a new sentence another example.

Bob told me comma Quotation marks start with a capital letter.

You will get your book back tomorrow.

You can also swap the quote and the narrator part around breakfast is ready.

She told me again they’re separated by a comma but in this case the start of a narrator part doesn’t get capitalized.

So as a small s and she.

and similarly you will get your book back tomorrow he told me so you will get your book has a capital Y.

That’s the start of the quote separated by a comma.

Then he told me with a lowercase h when we use quotation marks with exclamation marks and question marks.

We also have to be aware of what’s going on so if a question is being quoted then the question mark goes inside the quotation marks and the same applies with exclamation marks.

She asked me when do you want breakfast.

So the quote is when do you want breakfast.

Which is a question and therefore the question mark goes inside the quotation marks and a similar example with an exclamation mark.

I can’t believe you actually said that Steve told me.

So the thing being quoted is the emphasized thing and that’s why the exclamation mark goes inside the quotes.

But if the narrator is asking the question and the question mark goes outside the quotation marks did the boss really say you’re totally incompetent.

So the quote is the boss saying you’re totally incompetent but the narrator is asking if he really said it.

So the question mark does not belong inside the quotation marks and another example for exclamation mark.

I am amazed that her mom said yes.

The mom just said yes but the amazement and the exclamation mark is outside of the quote We do have differences between U.K.

and U.S. versions so in the UK the full stop goes after the quotation mark and then the U.S. the period which is what they call the full stop goes inside the quotation mark so a UK version will be.

She told me I will be home late this evening and the full stop is at the end of the sentence after the quotation marks.

so the UK version that like this.

She told me I will be home late this evening with the full stop right at the very end.

Outside the quotation marks and in the US they write it slightly different.

She told me I will be home late this evening the full stop goes inside the quotation marks or another version.

Another example UK would say I told her that dress is very pretty with the full stop at the end and the US version of the same sentence has the full stop.

Just inside the quotation marks quotation marks are used to reproduce exactly what somebody said breakfast is ready.

She told me so.

Those are the exact words she said.

Breakfast is ready.

No other variation.

No other order.

No other words Bob said to me.

I will bring your book back tomorrow I promise when we use reported speech.

We do not use quotation marks so the reported version of the first example.

She told me that breakfast was ready and for the second one Bob promised that he would bring my book back tomorrow.

These are reported sentences and they don’t have quotation marks.

The thing being quoted can be a single word a phrase or even a whole sentence example of a single word.

A hospital spokesman described her condition as satisfactory or the phrase.

He said that this was neither the time nor the place for such a discussion of the whole sentence.

John said I hate working here if we’re quoting a multi paragraph text then the quotes are slightly different and the rule is that each paragraph gets a starting quotation mark but only the last paragraph gets the closing quotation mark.

I’ll try to show that here without too much text Peter said.

Today is the start of a wonderful journey and he carries on talking.

The second paragraph contains a lot more information and you see at the end of these there’s no closing quotation marks.

The third paragraph expands upon all of this.

And finally it’s I summarize the main points of the speech and there is the last paragraph that gets the closing quotation mark.

Hope that makes it clear.

we can either use single or double quotation marks and it really doesn’t matter which one you use.

Personally I tend to use single quotes for words and short phrases and double quotes for longer phrases and complete sentences.

That’s just me.

For example a hospital spokesman described her condition as satisfactory.

One word I just use single quotes what was the whole sentence.

Jones said I hate working here however when we have nested quotes we have to use both so if there’s a quote within a quote We have to use different quotation marks to separate the two quotes.

I’ll show you what you mean with an example we usually use single quotes.

However for the inner quotation the important thing is to be consistent so John told me the boss said I need this by Friday.

So the boss said as a quote I need this by Friday.

And John is telling me the boss said I need this by Friday.

So the inner quote from the boss is in single quotes and the outer quotes in double quotes and we see at the end after Friday the single quote and the double quote or another example.

Paul said the teacher told us the test will be on Tuesday and again the quote from the teacher the test will be on Tuesday.

It’s in single quotes the outer quote.

Paul said in double quotes we see at the end a single and a double quote.

To to close the sentence.

quotation marks can also be used to highlight a specific part of a question for example the boss keeps saying that we must all make sacrifices.

What does he mean by sacrifices.

So we’re really highlighting that word as being something that we’re really interested in knowing or something that parents would say to their small children.

What part of stop that don’t you understand.

So again we’re highlighting the stop that in the question because he quotation marks sarcastically or ironically and you can use quotes to show the part of the sentence that you mean sarcastically.

I’m sure the politician will keep his promise.

And in this case you’ll often see people sort of air quoting with their two feet with two fingers.

The teacher said the homework would be easy.

It was so easy though it wasn’t easy it was difficult we’ll see use quotation marks with titles of films books and other creative works and there’s several options you can use here.

You can put the title in quotes or italics if you put the title in italics you usually use quotation marks for individual parts of the complete item no matter which variation you choose as ever.

Please be consistent.

On December 30 first.

We always sing Auld Lang zine in quotation marks or you can write it in italics like this.

And if you want to show how you would use the quotation marks in italics together you would say the track natural science on Russia’s Permanent Waves is awesome which it is and they can also be used as a short form for feet and inches which are imperial measurements that are still in use in England and the United States so a single quotation mark means feet and two quotation marks a double quotation means inches.

So if say he is five feet nine inches tall that his five dash nine double dash we as we can see there and this particular representation is the only time in the US version that the full stop goes outside and after the question mark.