Search results for 'tag:Quotation marks' matching tag 'Quotation marks'

Re: Punctuation within quotes?

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:06:53 GMT

These punctuation marks (the British call them inverted commas) come in two forms, double and single. The double quotation marks (opening â and closing â) are used to enclose the words of a direct quotation: She said, âIâll never see you again.â (They are never used in indirect quotation: She said sheâd never see him again.) They are also used to enclose words or phrases quoted from others or words that may be slang or that are in some other way being used peculiarly: The speaker tried to put a favorable âspinâ on his denial. The âpacification planâ was in fact simply a euphemism for a bloody conquest. But be sparing: most editors discourage the use of such quotation marks for effect rather than for a substantive reason, and overuse of these marks in any writing is affected.	1
Convention also calls for double quotation marks around the titles of short stories, short poems, short musical compositions, and the names of plays, chapters in books, and radio and television programs: Frostâs âThe Road Not Taken,â âEye Witness News.â (Titles of longer works usually require italics instead, and sometimes the decision is arbitrary or simply conventional: books of the Bible, for example, are almost always italicized rather than placed in quotation marks, and the same is true of the titles of Shakespeareâs plays.)	2
A key problem with quotation marks is which other marks of punctuation go inside the closing quotation mark(s) and which belong outside. In the United States, most stylebooks and most editors follow these rules: periods and commas belong inside, colons and semicolons outside. Other marksâquestion mark, dash, and exclamation point, for exampleâgo inside when they belong with the quoted material, outside when they belong to the main sentence. British editorial conventions differ.	3
When quoting a long passage of two or more paragraphs, the usual procedure in written American English is to use no quotation marks and instead to set off the entire passage of quoted matter by indenting it. If you decide to use quotation marks instead, however, the usual procedure is to begin each paragraph of the long quotation with quotation marks but to use a closing quotation mark only at the end of the final sentence in the quoted passage. In any event, use only one of these methods with any given quotation. See also POETRY.	4
British publishers frequently use single quotation marks (opening â and closing â) where Americans use double quotation marks. In American writing, however, single quotation marks are restricted mainly to enclosing a quotation within a quotation: The dealer said, âIâm sorry, I thought you said âI pass.ââ Note that a period goes inside both final quotation marks when the two quotations end together.

How appropriate for...

MarvinTheMartian — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:33:05 GMT

Hi,

Just now, I was writing a little paragraph when I came to an impasse. Take a look:

The night was dark and foggy. "How appropriate for the Halloween season", he thought to himself as he made his way across the cornfield.

I'm not entirely sure the sentence between quotation marks works. I tried with different words ("fitting", "convenient", etc.), but felt none of them really fit here. What do you think? Should I just leave it as it is? Isn't there a better way to say this?

Thanks in advance.

Re: comma and capitalization

Grammar Geek — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:16:37 GMT

1. If the quoted material is an exact quote, then keep the capital letter to start it. However, in your example, the ? belongs inside the quotation marks. The ? goes with the question.

2. No, this should not be capitalized. It's a common noun.

EDIT: Oops - I somehow missed that it was about commas, not capitals. Sorry, and thanks Philip for not being as blind as I was!

Re: People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.

Philip — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:38:50 GMT

Try a Google search, with the entire quote in quotation marks: you'll find several interesting references to Bellow, including some possible explanations of what he meant here.

Re: SOS - CAN ANYONE KINDLY CHECK THIS OUT PLZ!

Eimai_Anglos — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:16:24 GMT

One sentence does not begin with a capital letter (but ought to).

One word beginning with "s" and one with "n" is misspelt.

An apostrophe is missing.

A quotation mark is opened but not closed.

Re: questions on quotes and italics

Mister Micawber — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:28:50 GMT

.
1. DynaMath Magazine. Why did not italicized the title of this magazine? I thought magazine titles are italicized.-- They should be, formally, as in bibliographies and careful writing; they are often not in other situations. So long as it is clearly a title, the method used to represent that is not so important.

2. I would have done this:

Participants will take a "cultural sensitivity" survey, after which we will discuss the responses. -- 'A' suggests that it is not the title of the survey, but merely a description; the quotation marks suggest that the phrase is perhaps a new or unusual one.

I will give out a sheet of "Cultural Pitfalls" that I have based on the situations mentioned previously.-- Here, it seems to be the title of the handout.

3. Can you confirm the validity of this statement? -- I confirm it.

Re: Is full stop before or after quotation marks?

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:33:27 GMT

I have been teaching English for 27 years. I have always placed the full stop/period inside the quotation marks. Also, it is "quotation," not "quotes." A "quote" is the remark or statement that a person has made. The punctuation is called "quotation marks."

questions on quotes and italics

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:45:27 GMT

Hi,

1. From a booklet by Scholastic Library Publishing for educators that advertise their products/material?, they were advertising Scholastic Classroom Magazines and among them was this:

DynaMath Magazine

On the picture of its cover, it had "DynaMath" in bold, yellow letters and beside it, it had this sentence (among several sentences) as part of its promotional and explanationatory writing about the magazine:

Get kids excited about math with DynaMath's puzzles, games, hands-on activities and kid-friendly news features not found in any textbook.

Why did not italicized the title of this magazine? I thought magazine titles are italicized.

2. I am uncomfortable about putting quotation marks around those words capitalized since it might indicate a proper noun or a special use of the word.

Particpants will take a "Cultural sensitivity survey" after which we will discuss the responses.

Why didn't capitalize "sensitivity" and "survey" when they seem to be part of the survey name? Would you put quotation marks around it?

another example:

I will give out a sheet of "Cultural Pitfalls" that I have based on the situations mentioned previously.

3. Can you confirm the validity of this statement? I think the below isn't concerning the situations where a word is used in a special sense. I think for the special use of a word, we put quotation marks around it.

Underlining or italics should be used to emphasize a word or phrase.

Re: Choices: Hyphenate or Quote?

CalifJim — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:05:26 GMT

Anonymous
I wonder what is the guidelines for deciding whether to use hyphens or quotation marks for cases like these.

... his way was a my-life-for-yours way. (Could one have written it using quotation markslike this: ... his way was a "my life for yours" way?)

I was taught that hyphens are always used in these cases -- if I understand clearly the sorts of cases you are referring to. I would never dream of using quotes. Remember, though, that punctuation differs from one style manual to another. You may get different advice depending what books you consult.

He had a very I-know-more-than-you-do attitude about it.

She gave me one of those push-over-and-give-me-some-room looks.

All I got was that of-course-you-can-do-it pep-talk that he gives everybody.

Since graduation was near, the professor got out his old this-is-the-beginning-of-the-rest-of-your-life speech.

Re: quoting

Tanit — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:17:04 GMT

Hi,

I think the example shows how the reference is made to Cormack's work (published in 1994?), ...

Yes, you got it right. It's the year in which the book was published

... but my question is, When you make such a reference, what is the barometer for measuring how exact (?) the your referencing wording has to be?" It doesn't look to be that it has to be written verbatim since you are not quoting. I think like indirect quoting, since you are not using the author's words quote for quote...

Again, that's correct.
If you were copying the words used by the author(s), than you'd need to put them within quotation marks (if it's a short phrase or sentence) or to indent them in your text (if the quotation is long).
In the example about Cormack's work, the author is expressing with his/her own words (= paraphrasing) something that has been written by Cormack. S/he could be putting into a short sentence the main point of a huge book, or rephrasing a sentence that appears in Cormack's text. The important thing, when using this type of reference, is not to use the original words.
If you ask me what's the point, all I can answer is that guidelines (at least, the ones I've read!) suggest not putting too many direct quotations (that is, those enclosed in speech marks) in an essay/article/etc for a number of reasons: i) they would make the essay less readable; ii) the essay would appear as a collection (patchwork?) of other texts, rather than a critical reflection on those; iii) the more direct quotations are in the essay, the less effective they would be - in other words, only put the most important direct quotations, the ones you want to emphasise.

... and using your words to note what the author said, there might be a slight chance of misinterpretation of the author's intent.

If you're using referencing systems like this one, you're either writing an academic work (article/report/essay/dissertation/etc.) or a professional report, so you are writing either for somebody who will assess your piece of writing or for peers who know something about the topic. You don't want to misinterpret the text, do you?

Also, how the Harvard Style of Referencing differ from APA Style on the same topic area?

Sorry, I can't answer. I've never used or studied the APA style.

Whatever you're writing, I wish you good luck!