In English, quotation marks have five main uses:
1. Use quotation marks when you’re quoting someone—for example:
The defendants at the hearing in New York — after each saying, “I plead guilty, your honor” — were sentenced to time served and were expected to be quickly removed from the country. [NYT]
2. Use quotation marks when referring to a word as a word:
If LeBron says the word “Miami” tonight, does that mean the rumor was true? [ESPN]
Some writers (including us) use italics for this purpose.
3. Use quotation marks when you want to imply that the quoted word or phrase is dubious:
You could listen to the “experts,” or you could just do what makes sense.
4. Use them when you’re coining a new word or phrase, but only on the first use:
Despite obvious appeal, Lululemon is what I like to call a “cult stock.” [The Street]
5. Use quotations to mark the titles of articles, poems, short stories, songs, and TV shows. Larger works are italicized:
This poem, together with the early “Sunday Morning” and “Le Monocle de Mon Oncle,” proved key to Stevens’s volume Harmonium when it was published in 1923. [Poetry Foundation]
Double or single quotation marks?
When indicating a quote within a larger quote, American English writers use single quotation marks inside double marks—for example:
He said, “My favorite poem is ‘Sunday Morning’ by Wallace Stevens.”
For quotes within quotes within quotes, etc., keep alternating single and double. In British English, it’s the exact opposite—for example:
He said, ‘My favorite poem is “Sunday morning” by Wallace Stevens.’
Punctuation inside or outside quotation marks?
In American English, most writers place periods and commas inside quotation marks regardless of the period’s or comma’s relationship to what’s being quoted—for example:
My favorite poem is “Sunday Morning.”
In British English, it’s the opposite:
My favorite poem is ‘Sunday Morning’.
American and British English are in accord in their treatment of question marks and exclamation points with quotation marks. If the mark is part of what’s being quoted, it goes inside the quotation marks. If it’s not part of what’s being quoted, it goes outside the quotation marks:
Have you ever read “Sunday morning”?
She asked, “Have you ever been to Paris?”
Semicolons and colons go outside quotation marks.
Unnecessary quotation marks
The unnecessary use of quotation marks is a sign of amateurish writing. There’s a growing trend in web and business writing of using quotation marks to give emphasis—for example:
Most people already know full well that proper diet and exercise is the way to lose weight, and yet so many find themselves helpless to do what they know they “should” be doing. [ArticlesBase (article now offline)]
Some writers put unnecessary quotation marks around expressions or common phrases—for example:
Be patient and “roll with the punches.” [EZine Articles (article now offline)]
When change comes it is best if we “get with the program”. [iSnare]
And some writers use quotation marks for phrasal adjectives that should be hyphenated—for example:
This “back to the basics” approach resonated with fans and critics alike . . . [Pop Matters]
Fans of the “everything and kitchen sink” approach will love this offering from Panasonic. [Hub Pages]
