Does it really matter if you use single quotation marks or regular quotation marks? Yes, it does. It all depends on what they are being used for. It turns out that the majority of the time, regular quotation marks are called for.
Regular Quotation Marks
Regular quotation marks are used to indicate a direct quotation or dialogue.
The preacher stood there and stared at me. “Be careful, child. Your words will be the death of you.”
(From Softly and Tenderly by Lisa Binion)
When a character’s dialogue continues from one paragraph to the next without a break for a dialogue tag, only the very end of the dialogue receives a quotation mark. Each paragraph of the continuing quotation begins with quotation marks.
The preacher continued. “We shrink before the mystery of death. How little of it we understand. But without dying, we cannot see the light of eternity. Without dying, we will never see the full glory of your grace.
“Speak to us your solemn message of life and death that we might gain understanding and wisdom. Let us be prepared to die at any given moment. We long to live with you for all of eternity.
“When we die, we give up our lives willingly because our life is in you. There is nothing that can separate us from your great love. Our mothers and fathers can’t keep us away from you. Our husbands and wives can’t sever our relationship with you. Our sons and daughters, no matter how much they want to hang onto us, can’t take away our love or our desire to live with you instead.”
(From Softly and Tenderly by Lisa Binion)
Unspoken dialogue does not have to be placed in quotations, but if the author wishes, it can be.
She wondered, “Will there be very many people at the funeral?”
Is indicating a direct quotation or dialogue the only job that regular quotation marks have? No, they have several more jobs as well.
When a word or phrase is used in a questionable or manner that is not standard, quotation marks are used to draw attention to this word. These marks, at times called scare quotes, can be used to indicate irony.
That remark was a real “winner.”
They can indicate that a slang term is being used.
Dinner was “delish.”
Or they can indicate that the term is being made up by the speaker or author.
Jessie’s “vampirific” tendencies scared those around her.
They are placed around words being discussed as words.
The meaning of “bread” is a baked, leavened food made of a mixture of which the main part is flour or meal.
They are used to indicate the English translation of foreign terms.
The German word Flugzeug means “airplane.”
Words introduced with so-called (so-called friend, so-called teacher) are not put in quotation marks.
Single Quotation Marks
So, what about single quotation marks? Are there any jobs left for them to do?
Single quotation marks are used around a quotation within a quotation.
Jesse said, “Don’t you dare call me ‘friend.’’’
Whether your opening quotation mark is a single or a double, don’t forget that it requires a closing single or double quotation mark. These could all appear next to each other. No space should be inserted between them.
Quotation Marks or Italics
The question of whether to enclose titles of works in quotation marks or make them italics used to leave me in confusion. I finally decided that it didn’t matter as long as I did one of the other. But I was wrong. I finally have a chart that tells me the titles that need to be enclosed in quotation marks and the ones that need to be in italics. Thank you, June Casagrande. The Best Punctuation Book, Period has been a huge help to me, and I always keep it within my reach for reference.
The Bible, Koran, and Talmud, although they are books, do not need to be enclosed in quotation marks nor do they need to be written in italics.
When writing down the title of a book that is not the Bible, Koran, or Talmud, the title needs to be in italics.
When writing the title of a book series, no quotation marks or italics are needed.
If writing down the title of a chapter of a book, it needs to be enclosed in quotation marks.
The title of a story needs to be enclosed in quotation marks, while the title of a play should be written in italics.
The title of a poem should be enclosed in quotation marks, but the title of a long poem published as a book needs to be written in italics.
The title of a song needs to be enclosed in quotation marks.
The title of a website, like Lisa’s Writopia, does not need quotation marks or italics, but the title of an individual page or article from the site, “Confusing Words from Cached to Chimera,” needs to be enclosed in quotation marks.
Amazon link: The Best Punctuation Book, Period.
Recommended Articles:
The Classy Colon & the Sassy Semicolon
Conjunctions and Commas
That Troublesome Apostrophe
Comma Splices
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