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Quotation Marks




Where to Put Them

    With periods, commas, and exclamation points: Always outside!

      Examples:

      "Blah blah blah."
      "Blah blah blah," blah blah.
      Blah blah, "Blah!"

      Exception: (British English places them inside depending on the sentence meaning.)



For Representing Exact Words

    Examples:

    She said it was a "troublesome" idea.
    "I hate ice cream," he said.
    I thought to myself, "What a waste of time!"
    Forche argues there is "no such thing a non-political poetry."
    He's a real "people person." (Exact words are a common phrase or term.)



For Representing Dialogue

    Rule 1: New Speaker, New Line.

    Rule 2: Tags must have punctuation on both sides. (A "tag" is what identifies the speaker; punctuation can include a capital or a punctuation mark.)

      Examples:

             "My, Grandma, what big ears you have," said Little Red Riding Hood.
             "All the better to hear you with, my dear," replied the wolf.
             Little Red Riding Hood said, "My, Grandma, what big eyes you have!"
             The crafty wolf said, "All the better to see you with, my sweet."
             "My, Grandma," Little Red Riding Hood began, "what enormous--"
             "Enough!" barked the wolf, "It's dinner time!"