Suppose I have a character who can’t pronounce the letter b, and I have him start a sentence with “bananas” in dialogue. Is this correct, using a single quotation mark in front of a pointing away from a: “’ananas! What will I do now?” Arun said. Should I capitalize the a of “ananas”? It’s at … Read more
As in the title, what does a quoted section in a name mean? Names like John “James” Doe (not someone’s name) Answer This usually refers to a nickname, or something that other people might call that person that isn’t their given name. So in the example you gave, that person’s formal given name is John, … Read more
Suppose that Eve said (in spoken English) An apple a day keeps the doctor away, unquote. Also isn’t Eve such a great person? Like my mom always said quote Eve is the best person ever, much better than that Alice person Now let us say that Bob wants to tell Alice what Eve said. Naively, … Read more
When life gives you lemons you say, “blah blah.” That is how i wrote the sentence. However, I am not sure about the period before the quotation mark. the other question I have is that I am also not sure if I need to put something between the word ‘lemons’ and ‘you’ I am probably … Read more
I’d like to know when to use italics and when to use single quotation marks should be used. For example: The word he was looking for was ‘abjuration’. vs The word he was looking for was abjuration. Answer I consulted The Oxford Guide to Style (2002) to see what a style guide focused on British … Read more
If a speaker clearly emphasizes a word or a term, should it be written down in quotation marks? e.g. Everyone’s so intimidated by “big data.” Answer Italics are used for emphasis and to identify words as words. However, in this case, big data is not really being emphasized in terms of pronunciation, nor, as the … Read more
She told me “take me out,” “let’s travel together,” and “I love ice cream.” or She told me “take me out”, “let’s travel together”, and “I love ice cream”. I always assumed that commas go inside the quotations mark, but perhaps there are specific rules to specific contexts. Help me out 🙂 Answer It depends … Read more
My understanding is that rules governing punctuation and quotation marks are partly governed by what country you’re writing in. For example, in American English, we always place periods inside quotation marks. However, is this still true when the quotation marks only include one word at the end of a sentence? Is the following example correct? … Read more
I’ve done some research, both on this SE and off, but I can’t find an answer to my unique problem. So I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate and I just missed something. I’m dealing with a situation in my writing where a speaker begins a quotation with a single quote. Having a … Read more
If you end a sentence, then begin the next sentence with the same word, but you wish to write more about that word in the next sentence, do you need to put that word in quotation marks in the next sentence? Example: Heavy machinery makes up the vast bulk of your vehicle’s mass. “Mass,” which … Read more
