Definition:
Either of a pair of punctuation marks (“curly” or "straight") used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word.
In the U.S., periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. In the U.K., periods and commas go inside the quotation marks only for a complete quoted sentence; otherwise, they go outside. In all varieties of English, semicolons and colons go outside the quotation marks.
See also:
- Block Quotations
- Direct Speech
- Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks
- Logical Punctuation
- Please, Don't "Quote" Me
- Practice in Using Quotation Marks Correctly
- Quotation
- Scare Quotes
Etymology:
From the Latin, "how many"Examples and Observations:
- "Double marks are traditionally associated with American printing practice (as in the Chicago style) and single marks with British practice (as in the Oxford and Cambridge styles), but there is much variation in practice; double marks are more often found in British texts before the 1950s, and are usual in handwriting."
(Robert E. Allen, "Quotation Marks." The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1992) - "You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'"
(George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah) - "If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it; do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks."
(William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style) - "'Where's Papa going with that ax?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."
(E.B. White, Charlotte's Web, 1952) - "[If] omitting material from the original sentence or sentences leaves a quotation that appears to be a sentence or a series of sentences, you must use ellipsis points, or three spaced periods, to indicate that your quotation does not completely reproduce the original."
(MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 2009) - "Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?'
Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'"
(Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown in "Peanuts") - Phantom Words
"However plausible they may seem, don't ascribe words to speakers that they didn't exactly say. For instance, Sen. Vladimir Blowhard says, 'Most of us politicians have a serious problem with that issue.' The quotation has him say, 'WE have a serious problem with that issue.' The fact is that the speaker never said 'we.' Rephrasing is easy: Blowhard said that politicians like himself 'had a serious problem with that issue.'"
(Rene J. Cappon, The Associated Press Guide to Punctuation. Basic Books, 2003) - History of Quotation Marks
"At the beginning of the 18th century English printers transformed the comma marks . . . into a new punctuation symbol which we may properly call 'quotation marks.' . . . Quotation marks were gradually accepted during the first half of the 18th century, and were used with increasing frequency to indicate quotations in English books in the second half of the century, although there are important exceptions. . . .
"Further refinements were produced as English printers exploited the existence of the variant forms of double-comma and single-comma marks."
(M.B. Parkes, Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation. Univ. of California Press, 1993)
Pronunciation: kwo-TAY-shun marks
Also Known As: inverted commas (chiefly British), quote marks, quotes, speech marks
