Quotation Marks

They are used to set off Direct speech - dialogue Quoted material Some titles

Dialogue When you quote direct speech, include normal sentence punctuation. If the speaker’s name is also included in your own sentence, set it off with commas. insideThe comma or end punctuation comes inside the final set of quotation marks.

Examples “ Did you, ” asked Tim in a rage, “ drink all of my Black Label ?” “ No, there are a couple of swigs left,” I said.

Be careful that you put quotation marks only around direct speech. Don’t use quotation marks for indirect speech.

Example: Tim, in a rage, asked me if I had drunk all of his Black Label. These are not Tim’s exact words, nor is the sentence a question.

Do not put quotation marks around words you simply want to emphasize.

Quoted Material When you quote a short written passage of prose ( three lines of prose or fewer) you can work it into your own sentence. Include normal sentence punctuation within the quotation marks.

Example “ Marriage,” wrote Dr. Johnson, “ has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.” “ The medium is the message,” Marshall McLuhan points pout in his book Understanding Media.

If your own introductory words form a complete sentence, use a colon.

Example Dr. Johnson made an interesting statement about wedded life: “Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.” Marshall McLuhan captured the imagination of a generation raised on television: “The medium is the message.”

A long written passage (more than three lines of print) should be and indented on both margins from your page so that the quotation stands apart from your text. An indented quotation is not enclosed in quotation marks.

Example: Richard is referred to as the sun by Bolingbroke, who says: See, see, King Richard doth himself appear, As doth the blushing discontented sun From out the fiery portal of the east When he perceives the envious clouds are bent to dim his glory. (III.iii.62 – 66)

Titles Titles of whole books are underlined. Titles of parts of those books or volumes are placed in quotation marks; therefore, titles of single essays, stories, or poems should be placed in quotation marks.

Example The poem “The Bear on Delhi Road” by Earl Birney is in the text Fifteen Canadian Poets.