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Post by Angela on Dec 10, 2008 10:17:47 GMT
What do you think about the use of quotation marks? Should they be single or double? Both the Penguin Writer's Handbook and the Collins Good Punctuation manual indicate that either can be used, as long as the method is consistent. Looking at the British newspapers, most prefer double quotes, but a few use single quotes. U.S. papers seem to favour double quotation marks. I wonder what we should use in Oz? My daughter (a language teacher) is having a difference of opinion with the English Dept at the High School where she teaches. All the staff are a little fraught writing end-of-year reports and nerves are frayed. Can anyone help?
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Glyn
Bronze
Posts: 87
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Post by Glyn on Dec 10, 2008 10:45:14 GMT
Angela
In the UK, single marks tend to be used for quoted speech, with double marks used for quotations within quotations.
Jack said, 'I wonder whether she should have used "aggravate" in that context?'
In the USA, the roles are normally reversed, as they frequently are in the British press.
I leave it to Verbivore to comment on Oz style.
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Post by Dave on Dec 10, 2008 11:08:04 GMT
I've seen (and used) single quotes to highlight a special term to keep it different from quoted material. In general, though, we use the double quotes in opening and closing sets to enclose directly quoted written or spoken material. If another quotation appears within, then switch to a set of single quotes. If there happens to be a separate quotation within that, use the double quotes again, alternating between the two kinds as material is nested. E.g., She said, "I quote from his letter, 'agree with Kipling that "the female of the species is more deadly than the male," but the phenomenon is not an unchangeable law of nature,' a remark he did not explain." You may end up with a single and a double together if the quoted elements end simultaneously: She said, "He told me, 'I love you.'" Conceivably you could end up with an apostrophe next to a single or double quote (or both!) also. (Note: This is US style.) |
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Post by Verbivore on Dec 10, 2008 11:27:45 GMT
Angela: Welcome!  The Australian Government Publishing Service Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers recommends single quotation marks as the norm. Using that recommendation, in Oz one would (re)punctuate Dave's (US style) example thus: She said, 'I quote from his letter, "agree with Kipling that 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male', but the phenomenon is not an unchangeable law of nature", a remark he did not explain'. She said, 'He told me, "I love you"'. |
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Post by Paul Doherty on Dec 10, 2008 23:01:46 GMT
In the UK, single marks tend to be used for quoted speech ... In newspapers. Books tend to do the opposite ... |
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Post by Angela on Dec 11, 2008 3:19:54 GMT
Thanks, gentlemen, for your replies. The whole subject of quotation marks seems a bit of a dog's breakfast to me. I'll go with VV because he's the oracle for Oz. While considering the matter I see that I wrote 'all the staff are.....', referring to two different staffrooms i.e. the foreign language staffroom and the English staffroom. So is it correct to use 'are' rather than 'is' when talking about these two separate sets of people?
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Post by Paul Doherty on Dec 11, 2008 3:43:03 GMT
While considering the matter I see that I wrote 'all the staff are.....', referring to two different staffrooms i.e. the foreign language staffroom and the English staffroom. So is it correct to use 'are' rather than 'is' when talking about these two separate sets of people? Would you mind starting a new thread for that, Angela? This topic is supposed to be a sort of quick reference, and people won't expect a discussion of staff under the heading "quotation marks"! If you post on the general board you can change topics to your heart's content. |
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