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Quotation Marks

1. A direct quotation is a person's exact words just as they were spoken.

All direct quotations (person's exact spoken words) go inside a pair of quotation marks.

Example: Fred's last words were, "Don't worry, there are no sharks in the water."

Don't confuse a direct quotation with a paraphrase which is a retelling of a person's words not as they were spoken.

Example: Fred's last advice was that we shouldn't worry because there weren't any sharks in the water.

2. A direct quotation begins with a capital letter.

Example: I heard him say, "Give me the money."

3. If the quotation is only a fragment, do not begin the quote with a capital letter.

Example: The gunman said he wanted the money "in the gym bag."

4. When a quoted sentence is broken by an expression like he said, a comma follows the expression, and the second part of the quote begins with quotation marks and a lower-case letter.

Example: "Stay on the floor," he said, "or I'll do something drastic!"

5. A direct quotation is always set off from the rest of the sentence by commas, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Notice that if a period would normally end the direct quotation but more words follow the quotation in that sentence, the period becomes a comma.

Example: "Ask what you can do for your country," said President Kennedy.

John Lennon said, "Give peace a chance."

"What did you say to me?" asked the bully.

"Don't move!" shouted the police officer.

6. Commas and periods are always placed directly after the word they follow with no separation.

Example: "Many critics," said the professor, "call Poe the father of the short story."

7. Place a question mark or an exclamation point inside the closing quotation marks if the quotation itself is a question or exclamation; otherwise, place them outside of the quotation marks.

Example: "Does everyone have a pencil?" asked the teacher.

"Get out of here!" shouted the firefighter.

Who whispered "I bough a cheat sheet"?

There are still some people who claim that they "can't afford a smoke detector"!

8. When you write dialogue (speech between characters), begin a new paragraph each time a speaker changes.

9. Use single quotation marks around a quotation inside of another direct quotation.

Example: Mr. Jones said, "We will now play 'Clair de Lune'."

I explained, "My mother said, 'Clean your room now.' "

10. Use quotes to show a word is slang or used in a special way.

Example: That guy was really "cool".

My "quiet" dog howled at the moon all night.

11. Use quotes around the title of a short work - poems, short stories, essays, chapters, articles, songs, etc.

Example: "The Raven" "The Star-Spangled Banner"