Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks to enclose a person’s exact words. Ex. Joan said, “My legs are sore from jogging.”

Place quotation marks at both the beginning and the end of a direct quotation. Incorrect: “I’m taking the road test, said Reed. Correct: “I’m taking the road test,” said Reed.

Do not use quotation marks to enclose the rewording of a person’s exact words. Ex. Joan said that her legs were sore from jogging.

A directly quoted sentence begins with a capital letter. Ex. Bianca asked, “When do we get our uniforms?”

Capitalize a directly quoted remark, even if the remark is not a complete sentence. Ex. Mr. Lozano answered, “On Friday, of course.”

If a direct quotation is obviously a fragment of the original quotation, it may begin with a lowercase letter. Ex. Christine promised to be here “as soon as possible.”

When an interrupting expression divides a quoted sentence into two parts, the second part begins with a lowercase letter. Ex. “I hope,” said Diego, “that it doesn’t rain during the fiesta.”

If the second part of a quotation is a complete sentence, a period (not a comma) follows the interrupting expression, and the second part begins with a capital letter. Ex. “The date has been set,” said Greg. “We can’t change it.”

When a direct quotation of two or more sentences by the same speaker is not divided, only one set of quotation marks is used. Ex. Tamisha suggested, “Let’s donate the profits from the car was to the day care. It provides help for many low-income parents.”

A direct quotation can be set off from the rest of the sentences by a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point, but not by a period. Ex. “That’s easy! It’s March 15!” Dot exclaimed.

When used with quotation marks, other marks of punctuation are placed according to the following rules:

Commas and periods are placed inside the closing quotation marks. Ex. “The concert tickets are sold out,” Mary said, “and I had really hoped to go.”

Colons and semicolons are placed outside the closing quotation marks. Ex. The following students have been named “most likely to succeed”: Corey Brown and Sally Ling.

A question mark or an exclamation point is placed inside the closing quotation marks if the quotation itself is a question or an exclamation. Otherwise, a question mark or exclamation point is placed outside the closing quotation marks. Ex. “What time is the game tomorrow?” Maria asked.

When both the sentence and the quotation at the end of the sentence are questions (or exclamations), only one question mark (or exclamation point) is used. It is placed inside the closing quotation marks. Ex. Who asked “What time is it?”

ASSIGNMENT Page 745 Exercise 3 Page 836 Exercise 30