Quotation Marks

If you can't remember when to use quotation marks and when not to, perhaps reviewing the rules will help. In general, quotation marks indicate that certain words you use in your writing are not your own. In addition, you use them to distinguish some titles, foreign expressions, and special terms from the body of the text. Use double quotation marks unless you have a quote within a quote (or titles within titles), then use single quotation marks (an apostrophe on a typewriter).

1. Use quotation marks to enclose brief direct quotations (another person's exact words). Brief quotations are those from one word up to four typed lines of prose or up to three lines of poetry. Parenthetical citations (e.g., using MLA format) follow the closing quotation mark but are placed before the period.

In setting off longer quotations (more than four typed lines), start a new line for the quotation; indent each line in the quote ten spaces, and do not use quotation marks. Parenthetical citations go one space after the end punctuation of the quotation.

2. Use quotation marks to set off dialogue. With every change of speaker, begin a new paragraph. This pattern tells the reader who is speaking.

3. Use quotation marks for the titles of brief poems, chapters and parts of books, journal and magazine articles, episodes of television series, and songs. For exceptions to this rule, consult a style manual.

4. Other uses of quotation marks include: translations of foreign words or phrases, special terms which are first introduced and defined, words or phrases used for irony, and unusual nicknames.

*Remember! Quotation marks are like shoes: you use them in pairs.