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Home - Grammar - Quotation Marks
Quotation Marks
 
Quotation Marks

In this lesson you will learn the definition of quotation marks and study examples of quotation marks.
Quotation Marks Definition
  • Quotation marks look like this:
' ' or ‘ ’ or " " or “ ”
  • Quotation marks are:
  • also called quotes or inverted commas
  • used to set off speech, a quotation, or a phrase
  • An opening quotation mark should appear at the beginning of each paragraph of the quoted text and a closing quotation mark at the end
  • The general convention is for sentence punctuation to be included inside the quotation marks, even if the punctuation is not part of the quoted sentence
Quotation Marks Examples
  • Standard usage:
  • “Good morning, Dave,” said HAL.
  • For speech within speech:
  • HAL said, "Good morning, Dave",” said Frank.
  • Note: do not use quotation marks for paraphrased speech
  • Correct: HAL said that everything was going extremely well.
  • Incorrect: HAL said that “Everything was going extremely well.”
  • Titles of artistic works - quotation marks, rather than italics, are generally used for the titles of shorter works:
  • short fiction, poetry, etc.: Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Sentinel”
  • book chapters: The first chapter of 3001: The Final Odyssey is “Comet Cowboy”
  • articles in books, magazines, journals, etc.: “Extra-Terrestrial Relays,” Wireless World, October 1945
  • album tracks, singles, etc.: Globe’s “Fade into” 
Quotation Marks Test

Study the information above. For the test questions below choose which sentences uses question marks correctly.
1.  Which sentence uses question marks correctly?

     a.  "Good morning," said the woman at the restaurant.
     b.  "Good morning, said the woman" at the restaurant.
2.  Which sentence uses question marks correctly?

     a.  "I really want you to come," she replied.
     b.  "I really want you to come, she replied."
3.  Which sentence uses question marks correctly?

     a.  "She is really difficult to work with, replied her boss."
     b.  "She is really difficult to work with," replied her boss.
4.  Which sentence uses question marks correctly?

     a.  "She said, I really love everything about you."
     b.  She said, "I really love everything about you."
5.  Which sentence uses question marks correctly?

     a.  "You should think before you speak, she said."
     b.  "You should think before you speak," she said.
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An audio lesson to help with your understanding of commonly confused words. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.
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Click here to visit the lesson page.
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