Sample Phrases for Introducing and Responding to Quotations

Discuss your quotations Do not quote someone and then leave the words hanging as if they were self explanatory. For example:

In the beginning of the novel, Guy Montag sees fire as a symbol of destruction. “It was a pleasure to burn” (4). Montag was doing what he was supposed to do. He lived in a world where it was normal for books to be illegal. He was used to this and burning was not just a job, but a duty and an honor that he was fulfilling, much in the same way we see firefighters of today as honorable. In the very beginning, Montag sees fire only as destruction because he does not know any other way; however, he is about to have his world rocked.

In the beginning of the novel, Guy Montag sees fire as a symbol of destruction. We see this perspective as early as the very first page when Montag describes that “It was a pleasure to burn” (4). From this statement, we can see that Montag was just doing what he was supposed to do. He lived in a world where it was normal for books to be illegal. He was used to this and burning was not just a job, but a duty and an honor that he was fulfilling, much in the same way we see firefighters of today as honorable. In the very beginning, Montag sees fire only as destruction because he does not know any other way; however, he is about to have his world rocked.

Introducing Quotes- Pattern #1 1. An introducing clause plus the quotation: Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure because "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" (176), according to Nick. This is a complex sentence. Because is a subordinate conjunction.

This works best if your quotation is a complete clause Pattern #2 2. An assertion of your own and a colon plus the quotation: Fitzgerald gives Nick a muted tribute to the hero: "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" (176). This works best if your quotation is a complete clause

Responding to Quotations It is often useful to apply some interpretive phrasing after a quotation, to show the reader that the you are explaining the quotation and that it supports your argument: Here we see that This statement shows Clearly, then, We can conclude from this that This tells us that From this we can understand that