Friday, April 19, 2013

Questions About Quotations?



Do you have questions about quotation marks? Or do you think they're a piece of cake?

Here are the simple rules:
1. Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. (U.S. rules; U.K. rules differ)
2. Colons and semicolons go outside the quotation marks.
3. Question marks and exclamation marks can go on the inside or the outside, depending upon the meaning of the sentence.


Examples:

1.      "Grammar rules are extensive," she said, "but they seem to be necessary."

2.      "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening": A beautiful poem of wintertime.
         I love "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"; it is my favorite poem by Robert Frost.

3.      I love "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"!
         She said, "I love stopping in the woods on a snowy evening!"
         Have you read "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"?
         "Have you ever stopped in the woods on a snowy evening?" she asked.


Did that answer all of your questions about quotation marks? :)


7 comments:

  1. I did quotations too:D but more on how to do the dialogue correctly. I didn't know about the : and ;, so glad you shared!

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  2. I guess most of it depends what the quotations are being used for, right? Are they being used for dialogue or are they representing a title?

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  3. I didn't know that colons and semi-colons rule. Good to know. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Yes, I see the differences. Thanks for explaining, Margo!

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  5. I may not mess this up now. But I say "may" loosely.

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  6. Great info. I didn't know all of it. Thanks. =)

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