Quotation Marks
Quotation marks are like flares that are placed in front of and behind a broken-down vehicle; they alert you that there's something different about the words inside of them.
- Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of the exact words of another speaker or writer. Remember to use correct punctuation when using quotations:
- commas and periods always go inside the end quotation mark
- question marks and exclamation points go inside the end quotation mark, when they are part of the quotation as a whole
- dashes, colons, and semi-colons never go inside the end quotation mark
- use a single quote for a quote within a quote
- Use quotation marks to indicate titles of shorter works:
- a poem
- a song title
- a short story or a chapter title of a longer work
- a title of a newspaper article or magazine article
- titles of television programs or radio programs
Note: Underline or italicize titles of longer works (books, plays, films, title of a newspaper or a magazine).
- Use quotation marks to emphasize words.
The interior decorator called the color "vermilion," but to me it screamed "fire-engine red."
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