quotation marks

Used around direct quotes; partial quotes and quote fragments; and words or phrases that are irony or satire.

  1. Direct quotes: Surround direct quotes with quotation marks. If the quote is broken into more than one paragraph typographically (a running quotation), do not use close quotation marks at the end of the paragraph but do use open quotation marks at the start of the next paragraph. If you quote two or more people in dialogue, their statements, no matter how brief, are surrounded in quotation marks of each person’s statement. The quotation mark is outside other punctuation, including the comma, but before attribution. Also see quotes.
  2. Partial quotes: Partial quotes or quote fragments are surrounded by open and closed quotation marks.
  3. Quotation marks within a quote: To use quotation marks within a quote, use single open and close quotation marks. For example, I said to him, Don’t do that.
  4. Irony: Words used in irony are surrounded by quotation marks. Also see irony.

Quotation marks are not used in Q&A format writing.

Quotation marks are not read by screen readers, are also used in HTML coding, and can therefore be read as an error or create digital confusion. To avoid both either errors and to create better accessibility, use the <q> tag to mark quotes.

For example:

<q>I said, <q>That just won't do,<q> then marched to the front and voted no,</q> Smith said.
This renders as:
I said, That just won’t do, then marched to the front and voted no, Smith said.

<q>We expect more than 10,000 people at the festival this weekend,</q> she said.
This renders as:
We expect more than 10,000 people at the festival this weekend, she said.

It really is a case of <q>do or die</q>.
This renders as:
It really is a case of do or die.

<q>We demand equity,</q> they yelled.
This renders as:
We demand equity, they yelled.

← Return to Punctuation

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