The second sentence reads as a direct quote from the client. But who is “he” in this sentence? Is it a third party?
Word processing software would not catch this because the sentences are not grammatically incorrect. However, the meanings of the sentences are not the same. Understanding puntcuation will help you write what you mean, and in this case, could save a lot of confusion around the office!
Punctuating Direct Quotations
Quotation marks show readers another person’s exact words. Often, you should identify who is speaking. You can do this at the beginning, middle, or end of the quote. Notice the use of commas and capitalized words.
Beginning: Madison said, “Let’s stop at the farmers’ market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”
Middle: “Let’s stop at the farmers’ market,” Madison said, “to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”
End: “Let’s stop at the farmers’ market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner,” Madison said.
Speaker not identified: “Let’s stop at the farmers’ market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner.”
Always capitalize the first letter of a quote even if it is not the beginning of the sentence. When using identifying words in the middle of the quote, the beginning of the second part of the quote does not need to be capitalized.
Use commas between identifying words and quotes. Quotation marks must be placed after commas and periods. Place quotation marks after question marks and exclamation points only if the question or exclamation is part of the quoted text.
Question is part of quoted text: The new employee asked, “When is lunch?”
Question is not part of quoted text: Did you hear her say you were “the next Picasso”?
Exclamation is part of quoted text: My supervisor beamed, “Thanks for all of your hard work!”
Exclamation is not part of quoted text: He said I “single-handedly saved the company thousands of dollars”!
Quotations within Quotations
Use single quotation marks (‘ ’) to show a quotation within in a quotation.
Theresa said, “I wanted to take my dog to the festival, but the man at the gate said, ‘No dogs allowed.’”
“When you say, ‘I can’t help it,’ what exactly does that mean?”
“The instructions say, ‘Tighten the screws one at a time.’”
Titles
Use quotation marks around titles of short works of writing, such as essays, songs, poems, short stories, articles in periodicals, and chapters in books. Usually, titles of longer works, such as books, magazines, albums, newspapers, and novels, are italicized.
“Annabelle Lee” is one of my favorite romantic poems.
The New York Times has been in publication since 1851.
Writing at Work
In many businesses, the difference between exact wording and a paraphrase is extremely important. For legal purposes, or for the purposes of doing a job correctly, it can be important to know exactly what the client, customer, or supervisor said. Sometimes, important details can be lost when instructions are paraphrased. Use quotes to indicate exact words where needed, and let your coworkers know the source of the quotation (client, customer, peer, etc.).
Exercise 9
Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper, and correct them by adding quotation marks where necessary. If the sentence does not need any quotation marks, write OK.
1. Yasmin said, I don’t feel like cooking. Let’s go out to eat.
2. Where should we go? said Russell.
3. Yasmin said it didn’t matter to her.
4. I know, said Russell, let’s go to the Two Roads Juice Bar.
5. Perfect! said Yasmin.
6. Did you know that the name of the Juice Bar is a reference to a poem? asked Russell.
7. I didn’t! exclaimed Yasmin. Which poem?
8. The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost Russell explained.
9. Oh! said Yasmin, Is that the one that starts with the line, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood?
10. That’s the one said Russell.
Key Takeaways
- Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotes and titles of short works.
- Use single quotation marks to enclose a quote within a quote.
- Do not use any quotation marks for indirect quotations.