Quotation Marks (EOL pp. 958-961)

Some examples of

Quotation Marks in your writing.

14c. Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation – a person’s exact words.

Susie asked, “Who likes pizza?”

[Susie wanted to know who likes pizza.] (no quotation marks)

14d. A direct quotation generally begins with a capital letter.

Bob exclaimed, “What a car!”

14e. A direct quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point, but not by a period.

“What a day!” shouted Mary.

14f. A period or a comma is placed inside the closing quotation marks.

The class read “The Raven.”

“I’ll see you later,” said Ralph.

14g. A question mark or an exclamation point is placed inside the closing quotation marks when the quotation itself is a question or an exclamation. Otherwise, it is placed outside.

Did Mrs. Sims say, “Get out your notebooks”?

14h. When you write dialogue (conversation) begin a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

What an exciting and intelligent conversation they had.

“Hello,” said Sam.“Hi,” said Mary.

14i. When a quotation consists of several sentences, place quotation marks only at the beginning and at the end of the whole quotation.

Monty replied, “I don’t have my homework. The dog ate it. He also got sick.”

14j. Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation or a title of a short work within a quotation.

Bob said, “I just read ‘The Raven.’”

Absolute No-No Rule

The teacher suddenly and emphatically exclaimed, “Oh no!”