Writing Academic English 4th Edition

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

288 AppendixBI PunctuationRules


OuotationMarks


QuotationmarksC...")havethreebasicuses:toenclosedirectquotations,to
encloseunusualwords,andtoenclosetitlesofshortworks.

Around.DirectQuotations
Usequotationmarksarounda directquotationthatisshorterthanthreelines.A
directquotationstatestheexactwordsofa speakerandis usuallyintroducedbya
reportingphrasesuchashesaidorasthereportstated.
Punctuationwithquotationmarkscanbea littletricky.Herearesomerulesto
follow:


  1. Separatea quotedsentencefroma reportingphrasewitha comma.
    Thereceptionistsaid,"Thedoctoris unavailablerightnow.Pleasewait."


"Wehavealreadybeenwaitingforanhour,"weanswered.

2.Periodsandcommasgoinsidethesecondquotationmarkofa pair.

"I thoughthewasresponsible,"hesaid,"butheisn't."


  1. Colonsandsemicolonsgooutsidequotationmarks.
    "Givemelibertyorgivemedeath":thesearefamouswords.


4.Exclamationpoints(!)andquestionmarks(?)goinsidequotationmarks
iftheyarea partofthequotation;otherwise,theygooutside.
"Isit eighto'clock?"sheasked.

Didshesay,"Itis eighto'clock"?

5.Begineachquotedsentencewitha capitalletter.Whena quotedsentenceis
dividedintotwoparts,thesecondpartbeginswitha lowercaseletterunless
it isa new sentence.
"Ithoughthewasresponsible,"hesaid,"butheisn't."

"I thinkheisresponsible,"hesaid."lookathisfinework."

6.UsesinglequotationmarksC...')toenclosea quotationwithina quota-
tion.
AsJohnF.Kennedyremindedus,"WeshouldneverforgetthewordsofMartin
LutherKing,Jr.,whosaid,'Ihavea dream.'"

Around.UnusualWords
Usequotationmarksaroundwordswithanunusual,especiallyironic,meanings.

The"banquet"consistedofhotdogsandsoftdrinks.
Thelittlegirlproudlyshowedher"masterpiece":a crayondrawingofa flower.
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