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How to Use Quotation Marks Correctly
Monday, March 24, 2008
InstructionsStep 1: Enclose all direct quotations, meaning use of another person's exact phrasing, whether written or spoken, with quotation marks. This is a way of both correctly citing the quotation and using proper grammar to include it in your writing.Step 2: Use a capital letter for the first word of a direct quotation after the initial quotation mark if the statement begins the sentence. If the direct quotation is used later in the sentence, you should not capitalize the first word. When a direct quotation is interrupted mid-sentence, you do not need to capitalize the first word of the second part of the quotation.Step 3: Do not use quotation marks around indirect quotations. Indirect quotations are rewordings of another person's written or spoken words. Using quotation marks around an indirect quotation would incorrectly imply that the words are that person's original statement.Step 4: Indent quotations that are longer than four lines on a typed page. This is referred to as a block quotation and in this case you will no longer need to use quotation marks. Usually a block quotation should have the same line spacing as the rest of the text.Step 5: Use quotation marks to enclose titles of shorter works, such as essays, short stories and songs. Longer or serialized works such as books, newspapers, magazines, TV series and films should be underlined instead of using quotation marks.Step 6: Indicate irony or humor by using quotations around certain words. For example, to correctly point out that you disagree with the use of another person's word to describe something, repeat that word in your own statement with quotation marks around it.Step 7: Insert a comma before direct quotations in sentences and to interrupt a quotation mid-sentence. For example, there should always be a comma before the first quotation mark of a quotation that is being introduced by a statement.Step 8: Put punctuation marks such as commas and periods before the closing quotation mark when you are ending that portion of the quotation. If you are ending a sentence with a quotation, the final period should come before the second question mark.
Tips & Warnings- Single apostrophes can be used in place of quotation marks to include a quotation inside of another quotation.
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