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Questions tagged [quotation-marks]

Punctuation used to delimit quotes within a sentence.

Quotation marks are a pair of punctuation marks used to delimit (surround) quotations within a sentence; an opening quote (“, ' or ") and a closing quote (”, ' or ") being the most common ones used in English.

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290 questions
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Have unnecessary quotation marks evolved?

Salutations, EL&U folks. I came across a curiosity this morning and I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on the issue. The introduction is long, but here is a summary: Can or should quotation marks be applied around company and product…
Ben
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Should one use quotation marks around single letters in text?

It's my brother's first year studying English and the book they use at school has sentences like: A is for Animal B is for Beast C is for Continent D is for Den and so on. Shouldn't we use " " (or ' ') when we refer to a single letter inside a…
Jani
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Is the use of the quotation marks necessary with expressions like "self-proclaimed", "self-styled", "so-called" and "would be"?

I have noticed in many writings people's use of quotation marks whenever they use the above-mentioned expressions for example: the self-styled "artists" or the so-called "poets". Isn't the use of the quotation marks redundant since the meaning of…
user15851
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Fancy quote usage

I considered posting this on Stack Overflow, but I figure this question is more about English syntax than programming rules for it. So, currently I have this: $fancyquote = preg_replace('/"\b(.*?\b.?)(?:"|$)/m','“$1”',$input); What this…
Niet the Dark Absol
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Quotation Marks and Symbols

As a programmer who often communicates through text, I find myself frequently having to refer to something in quotes, like ;. This is fine for most things, but it can get confusing when referring to quotation marks themselves like ' or ". It can get…
Joel
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Quotation marks - Is there any incoherence in these examples from Wikipedia?

My question is not about the use of quotation marks, single or double. It's about this paragraph from Wikipedia. If quotation marks are used, it is sometimes the practice to distinguish between the quotation marks used for speech and those used for…
Centaurus
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Quotation Marks Before and After Video-Game Titles

When mentioning the title of a video game, would it have to have quotation marks before and after it? Around published works, yes, but would video games also count as published works? Would it be written like this: I stayed home and played…
Boba
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Indirect quote without quotation marks, two spaces after comma?

I seem to remember the usage of a kind of soft quotation, with no quote marks, but a capital letter and two spaces after the comma. Has anyone seen this? Does it have a name? Example: I asked him if it was possible. He gave me a dirty look,  No…
Matt
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Quotation marks with indirect quote

Is a comma required after "quiet" in the following sentence, as if it were a direct quote? And if no, does "Yes" need to be capitalized? Margaret curtseyed and spoke a quiet “Yes, ma’am.”
user87888
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Use of quotation marks in nonstandard narrative

I'm working on a book that is narrated by a young boy in the hills of North Carolina in 1960. It's written in first person. Careful and judicious use of misspelled words and imperfect grammar convey a lot about his character and does not overwhelm…
Diane
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Why do these quotation marks result in text inconsistencies according to Grammarly?

I submitted my writing to Grammarly and apparently the quotation marks result in text inconsistencies. Can anyone point out the error with my quotation marks? Apparently all three pairs are problematic. Whenever I visited Korea, people asked, "Are…
jsean
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How do I punctuate a direct statement within a sentence?

In the following sentence, how do I set apart the suggested statement? Tell your students, "You are close, but that only works if the equation uses addition. Since the equation uses multiplication, what do you think the answer is?" I usually use a…
editormn
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Can you ever put a name into quotation marks when introducing?

As I understand it, quotation marks are used when we refer to a word instead of something external to the word. Hence I use the word "I" to refer to me. When we introduce somebody by nickname, we would generally use quotation marks: Everybody…
sup
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Is it okay to drop quotation marks on second reference?

Is it okay to drop quotation marks on the second reference of an unusual term? Here’s a sentence with the term “greenfield” in it, which is not a common term. A few paragraphs later, the writer uses the same term and encloses it in quotation marks.…
debbiesym
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Quotation Marks Around Nicknames?

I would understand if the nickname was around quotation marks if the full name was presented as well: "His name is O'Shea 'Ice Cube' Jackson Sr." But what if you referred to a person only by their nickname? With quotation marks: "Hey, 'Ice…
Anonymous 16-Year-Old
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