Many good and useful things come in pairs\u2014eyes, colourful socks, earbuds when children are around, wheels on a bike… and quotation marks!<\/p>\n
First things first\u2014let’s sort out some stylistic variations.<\/p>\n
Like many things in language, there are decisions about style that seem to be adopted primarily by different countries around the world. While single quotations may appear to be a UK-based trend, they are seen everywhere in Australia and in some places in the United States. Similarly, in Australia, you will see double quotations used quite often. There is no right or wrong answer for this phenomenon, just the desire to keep things consistent within a single writer’s work. If you start using single quotations, stick with it. The worst thing you can do is chop and change within a project.<\/p>\n
Another difference in style, however, does appear to be more location-based. When using quotations to cite a title, American English users tend to put the final quotation mark outside any punctuation, like this:<\/p>\n
\n Last night, Jimmy went to see ‘Les Miserabl\u00e9s.’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While British users would write that sentence thusly:<\/p>\n
\n Last night, Jimmy went to see ‘Les Miserabl\u00e9s’.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While the British English style makes more sense to me and looks more appealing, the US style is common enough to have gained it the official alternative status. However, the more logical approach, and the one that I have adopted, is the UK example\u2014enclosing the cited words within quotations, excluding<\/strong> punctuation. It is very important to note, though, that if the title itself includes punctuation, make sure you include the punctuation within the quotation marks\u2014for example, the musical Oliver!<\/em><\/p>\n
\n My favourite musical of this year is ‘Oliver!’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For more information on exclamation marks, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n Sarah sprinted after them and cried, ‘You can’t leave without me!’<\/em><\/p>\n
‘I refuse to admit I was wrong!’ Tom said pompously.<\/em><\/p>\n
‘But, Remy,’ Mary insisted, ‘this isn’t the end of the world.’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For more examples and rules about the comma and its use with quotation marks, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Do not<\/strong> use quotation marks when indicating indirect<\/strong> speech. Such as:<\/p>\n
\n My teacher told me I would do well if I tried harder.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n My teacher told me, ‘Carmel, you would do well if you tried harder!’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n ‘You can’t say “mine” on the soccer field,’ the coach explained to his team.<\/em><\/p>\n
‘Joe, can you stop saying “I’m the best!” every time you win, please?’<\/em><\/p>\n
Quite often, sentences that begin with a statement end in a section of direct speech.<\/p>\n
\n What would happen if I wrote into my English essay: ‘I hate English’?<\/em><\/p>\n
‘Who was it who said, “I came, I saw, I conquered”?’<\/em><\/p>\n