Unit 15: ＜ Quoting ＞ Kevin Chen

Use quotation marks suitably in a dialogue so that the reader will not become lost. Place quotation marks with commas in where the break would come naturally in speech—that is, where the speaker would pause for emphasis, or take a breath.

1. Commas before and after direct quotations Before quoting a whole statement, put a comma after introductory word said, stated, asked, and so on. Examples: He said, “This is the road to San Francisco.” She asked, “Will this book explain how to make simple furniture?”

2. Put commas after quotations when the quotations come at the beginning of sentences. Be sure to make commas belong inside quotation marks. Examples: “After dinner, let’s play Wii,” he suggested. “Don’t leave any questions blank,” the teacher said.

3. Short quoted phrases often fit smoothly into the sentence and should not be set off by commas. Examples: Michael called his niece a “universal genius.” Shakespeare called music the “food of love.”

4. Quotation marks should be always placed before colons and semicolons Examples: Read James Joyce’s short story “Araby”; learn what it’s like to be disappointed in love. Laura won an unexpected prize for her science-fair project, “Lumitox and the Environment”: an all- expense-paid trip to Stockholm to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies.

5. Quotation marks before or after question marks and exclamation points, depending upon the context of the sentence Examples: John asked, “Can you meet me at seven o’clock?” Did John say, “Meet me at seven o’clock”?

6. Use quotation marks to enclose the actual words of a speaker “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

7. Use quotation marks to identify symbols, letters, and words used He had too many “buts” in this paragraph, and his “$” sign is a simple “s.” ( ＊ In computer type, a word used as such is usually set in italics: too many buts.)

8. Use quotation marks to enclose the titles of short stories, short poems, paintings, songs, magazine articles, essays, and chapters of books, BUT NOT book titles. William Butler Yeats’s “Leda and the Swan” and Correggio’s painting “Leda” dramatize an erotic event that ultimately led to the Trojan war. ( ＊ In type the titles of works of art are often set in italics: Correggio’s painting Leda.)

~~BYE~~