quotation marks or inverted commas Definition

1. Each of a pair of punctuation marks which can be either single (‘ ') or double (“ ''). They are conventionally used to mark the beginning and end of a quoted passage or to indicate the title of an essay, article or song, etc, or put on either side of a word or phrase to draw the reader's attention to it, eg because it is colloquial, slang, jargon or a new coinage. Also called inverted comma.

○ There are two types of quotation marks: single ‘…' and double “…”. Both are correct, but British English tends to favour single quotation marks, American English double.

○ Quotation marks enclose direct speech &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

Note, in the first two examples above, that the comma separating quoted material from the rest of the sentence goes inside the quotation marks when the quoted material comes first, and outside when what is quoted comes second. Note also, in the remaining examples, that all other punctuation goes inside the marks if it belongs to the quoted material, and outside if it belongs to the rest of the sentence.

Note that, where the end of a passage of quoted material coincides with the end of the whole sentence, usually only the punctuation inside the quotation is given &wbox; &wbox;

○ Quotation marks enclose a short quotation &wbox; Longer quotations are normally separated off more markedly from the rest of the text, for example by being given their own indented paragraph.

○ Quotation marks enclose a word or phrase that the writer wishes to highlight &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

Note that both single and double quotation marks are needed when a quoted passage itself contains quoted material &wbox;