Lesson 3: Quotation Marks

Definition

Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation—a person's exact words.

Explanation

Quotation marks signal that you are using someone's exact words. Always capitalize the first word of a full-sentence quotation. If the quotation is broken up by words like "he said," the second part starts with a lowercase letter. Remember, punctuation like commas and periods always go inside the closing quotation marks. Question marks go inside only if the quotation itself is a question.

Examples

• Olivia said, "Let's go to the park after school." [The quotation is a complete sentence and begins with a capital letter.]
• "Let's go," Olivia said, "to the park after school." [The quotation is divided, so the second part begins with a lowercase letter.]
• She agreed to go to the park "if her homework was done." [The quotation is a fragment and begins with a lowercase letter.]
• Did she ask, "Are you coming to the park"? [The sentence asks a question, but the quotation is not a question, so the question mark is placed outside the quotation marks.]

Definition

Use quotation marks to enclose titles (including subtitles) of short works such as short stories, poems, essays, articles and other parts of periodicals, songs, episodes of radio and TV series, and chapters and other parts of books.

Explanation

Think of quotation marks as frames for smaller pieces of art. You use them for titles of things that are usually part of a larger collection, like a single song on an album, an article in a magazine, or a specific chapter in a book. A special rule to know: if a title appears inside of another quotation, you should use single quotation marks (' ') for that title.

Examples

• My favorite short story is "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry.
• For our report, we read the article "The Future of Space Travel" in this month's magazine.
• The best chapter in the novel was titled "An Unexpected Journey."
• The teacher asked, "Has everyone read the poem 'The Raven'?" [The poem title is in single quotes because it is part of a larger quotation.]

Definition

Use quotation marks to enclose slang words, invented words, technical terms, dictionary definitions of words, and any expressions that are unusual in standard English.

Explanation

Use quotation marks to signal that a word is special or being used in an unusual way. This includes informal slang, creative made-up words, or specific technical terms that might be unfamiliar to the reader. It’s like telling your reader, "Hey, pay attention to this word!" You also use them to enclose the definition of a word that you are explaining in a sentence.

Examples

• My grandfather said the pot roast was a "humdinger." [Humdinger is an unusual or slang word.]
• My little brother calls the television remote a "blip-blop." [Blip-blop is an invented word.]
• In music class, we learned that a "crescendo" is a gradual increase in loudness. [Crescendo is a technical term.]
• The word gregarious means "fond of company; sociable." [The definition of gregarious is enclosed in quotation marks.]