Quotation Marks: Proper Usage, Purposes And Rules

Here’s How To Properly Use Quotation Marks

USING QUOTATION MARKS – There are different symbols that serve important functions, these marks are used to emphasize parts of a text.

using quotation marks
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Either to emphasize a title, imply different meanings or directly quote someone else’s words, these marks should be used properly. There are several rules on using these marks when used for different purposes.

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These are also important in formally citing original sources. Direct quotes are quotes that are relayed exactly as it is and indirect quotations are reinterpreted remarks.

But quotation marks are used ONLY for direct quotations.

Sometimes, deciding when and where to put quotation marks could be difficult. There are many instances where you would find placing and using these marks confusing.

Here are some rules you can refer to as a guide:

CAPITALIZATION

Putting quoted material in your writing requires you to be aware of the rules on capitalization. Simply put, if you are including a complete sentence in your writing, you should capitalize the quotations. If you’re only quoting parts or chunks of it, then don’t.

PLACING QUOTATION MARKS WITH OTHER PUNCTUATION MARKS

This is one of the most confusing rules of usage. Should the punctuation go inside or outside the the marks?

The simple rule is that: commas and periods are always place inside the the marks while other punctuation marks such as colons, semicolons and dashes should be outside.

QUOTES WITHIN QUOTES

To emphasize quotes written within quotes, we can use single quotation marks. When you write, you will soon come across a moment when you would have to properly place marks on quotations that have quotations within and it might confuse you.

But simply, for quotes withing quotes, you can use single quotation marks.

For instance, you cannot write “John said his motto was “Time is gold.””

It would look awful. Instead you can put “John said his motto was ‘Time is Gold.’ “

These are some rules we found in an article from Grammarly.

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