english grammar speech marks

What are speech marks? Examples and how to use them

In this guide, learn what speech marks are and take a look at some examples!

Author Eliana Sk

Published April 14, 2022

Author Jane Doe

Learn what speech marks are and take a look at some examples!

Author Eliana Doe

• Key takeaways
• Speech marks are special punctuation marks that show the exact words someone has spoken
• Speech marks look like this: “ ”
• Knowing the difference between direct speech and indirect speech can help us know how to use speech marks

Table of contents

What are speech marks?

Where are speech marks used, how to use speech marks.

From novels to news reports, speech marks are used in all sorts of places! In this guide, we take a look at what they are, where they’re used and some handy rules to keep in mind when using them.

Speech marks are special punctuation marks that show the exact words someone has spoken.

They’re also known as quotation marks and inverted commas, and they always appear in pairs at the beginning and end of what was said.

This is what they look like:  “ ”

And here’s an example of some speech marks in action:

“The words that appear between speech marks are the exact words that someone has said,” said the teacher.

You can find speech marks everywhere. They’re common in stories, news articles, poetry and essays. By showing when someone is speaking, speech marks can help make a text more lively and easier to read.

In a story, speech marks may show which of the characters is speaking. For example, in a children’s book you may read:

“We always eat in the garden,” said Markus.

In a news article, speech marks can be used to show a statement made by an expert. For example:

Economists say that “the increase in production will help the job market to grow”.

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When do children learn about speech marks?

Children usually start learning about speech marks around the age of 7.

Before they learn about speech marks, they’ll first be taught about other forms of punctuation, including full stops, commas, exclamation marks and question marks.

Being able to tell the difference between direct and indirect speech will help children to effectively use speech marks.

• Direct speech:  shows the exact words that were spoken by a person or character. Speech marks are used at the beginning and end of direct speech to represent what someone has said.
• Indirect speech:  shows what someone said without using their exact words. Speech marks aren’t used in these cases.
• A  reporting clause  will let a reader know who said the direct speech and how they said it.

You should always separate direct speech from the reporting clause by a comma.

This may sound a little complicated, but if we look at an example it will all be clearer.

Anne said, “It’s snowing!”

In this example, ‘Anne said’ is the reporting clause, as it lets us know that it was Anne who spoke. This clause is separated by a comma from Anne’s direct speech, which is represented by the text between the speech marks (“It’s snowing!”).

If you’re writing a conversation between multiple people, reporting clauses can also help to clarify who’s speaking, and when.

Speech mark examples

Let’s take a look at some examples of speech marks in actions. These will help us better understand the different uses of speech marks.

The teacher said that Anthony’s story was “exceptionally written” and that’s why she read it to the whole class.

In this example, a fragmented part of the teacher’s statement is quoted. This is why the statement isn’t capitalised and has no punctuation before or within the quotation marks.

Markus laughed, “Did you see how high I jumped?”

“I know! It was amazing!” Adriana agreed.

In this example, two different people are speaking. The reporting clauses (‘Marcus laughed’ and ‘Adriana agreed’) shows us who is speaking. Each speaker is also placed on a new line to help the reader see that a new person has started speaking.

“It’s amazing,” William exclaimed, “there are bubbles everywhere!”

In this example, the statement made by William is separated by the reporting clause. This is a fun way of adding some character to your writing when using speech marks.

“Polar bears are my favourite real animals,” Mario said. He then told us about the mythical animals he likes more than polar bears.

This is an interesting example because only part of what Mario said is directly written down. The rest is summarised in indirect speech, and this is why there are no speech marks in the second sentence.

How to use speech marks when writing

If you’d like to quote a phrase or statement, using speech marks will show the reader that these aren’t your original words.

Speech marks are also a great way to give emphasis to certain phrases.

If you’re writing stories, they’ll also help to separate when the different characters are talking. Keep in mind that speech is a faster way of moving a story forward, so be careful about how much you use them!

General rules for using speech marks

There are a few helpful rules to keep in mind when using speech marks:

• Sentences made by different characters or people will need to be in separate lines
• If you’re using a person’s full statement, the punctuation of the sentence will need to be within the quotation marks. This includes full stops, exclamation marks, and question marks.
• If a reporting clause is before the speech marks, you’ll need a comma to separate the two. This comma will be before the speech marks.
• If a reporting clause comes in the middle of two quoted sentence parts, you’ll need a comma at the end of the speech marks in the first part and at the beginning of the speech marks in the second part of the sentence

Final thoughts

Using speech marks is relatively easy once you realise they’re only used to express what someone said. When writing an essay or story, speech marks can also help to make your writing more interesting and lively!

To learn even more about speech marks, why not download the  DoodleEnglish app ?

It’s filled with interactive exercises exploring the topic, making it the perfect way to put your learning into practice.

Best of all, it’s designed to be used for just 10 minutes a day — and you can try it for absolutely free!

FAQs about speech marks

Speech marks are punctuation marks that show the words someone has spoken. They’re also known as quotation marks and inverted commas.

If we look at an example: Peter said, “It’s raining!”

‘Peter said’ is a reporting clause, as it lets us know that it was Peter who spoke.

This clause is separated by a comma from Peter’s direct speech, which is represented by the text between the speech marks (“It’s raining!”).

You should use speech marks each time someone speaks.

Speech marks are also called ‘inverted commas’.

You should use inverted commas whenever someone speaks in your writing.

Single speech marks (‘ ‘) can be used to replace double quotation marks (” “) when they’re inside of double quotation marks.

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Punctuation in direct speech

We use inverted commas (also called quotation marks, quotes or speech marks) to indicate direct speech. Double quotes (") are preferred in American English, while single quotes (') are more common in British English:

" I'm coming home late tonight, " she said. (American English) ' I'm coming home late tonight, ' she said. (British English)

If we quote within direct speech, we use the other style for the embedded quotation:

"She said, ' I'm coming home late tonight ', " recalled Jim. (American English) 'She said, " I'm coming home late tonight ", ' recalled Jim. (British English)

As can be seen in the examples above, a comma ( , ) is used at the end of the quotation, before the closing speech mark.

A comma is also used before the quotation if we start the sentence with the reporting clause. In this case the terminal full stop (.) comes before the closing speech mark:

She added , "Don't expect me before 11 . "

If the quotation is a question or exclamation, the terminal marks ( ? and ! ) also come before the closing speech marks:

"Hurry up ! " he shouted. She asked, "Am I late ? "

The quotation normally begins with a capital letter, except if it is interrupted by a reporting clause, in which case the first letter of the continuation is not capitalised:

" I 'm coming home late tonight," she said and added, " d on't expect me before 11."

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• When to Use Quotation Marks (“”) | Rules & Examples

When to Use Quotation Marks ("") | Rules & Examples

Published on May 21, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 29, 2022 by Jack Caulfield.

Quotation marks (also known as quotes or inverted commas) are used to indicate direct speech and quotations.

In academic writing, you need to use quotation marks when you quote a source . This includes quotes from published works and primary data such as interviews . The exception is when you use a block quote, which should be set off and indented without quotation marks.

Whenever you quote someone else’s words, use a signal phrase to introduce it and integrate the source into your own text. Don’t rely on quotations to make your point for you.

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Table of contents

Single vs. double quotation marks, quotes within quotes, punctuation following quotations, quotation marks for source titles, indirect quotation, scare quotes, frequently asked questions about quotation marks.

There are two types of quotation marks: ‘single’ and “double.” Which one to choose generally depends on whether you are using US or UK English . The US convention is to use double quotation marks, while the UK convention is usually to use single quotation marks.

Double quotation marks can also be acceptable in UK English, provided you are consistent throughout the text. APA Style requires double quotations.

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When your quotations are nested (i.e., a quote appears inside another quote), you should use the opposite style of quotation marks for the nested quotation.

US and UK English also differ on where to place punctuation within quotation marks.

• In US English,  commas and periods that follow a quote are placed within the quotation marks.
• In UK English, all punctuation marks are placed outside the quotation marks, except when they are part of the original quotation.

In all variants of English, a question mark appears inside the quotation marks when the person quoted was asking a question, but outside when it’s you asking the question.

• Smith asks, “How long can this situation continue?”
• How many participants reported their satisfaction as “high”?

Note that when you include a parenthetical citation after a quote, the punctuation mark always comes after the citation (except with block quotes ).

• Solis described the situation as “precarious” (2022, p. 16).

Some source titles (e.g., the title of a journal article) should be presented in quotation marks in your text. Others are italicized instead (or occasionally written in plain text).

The rules for how to format different source titles are largely the same across citation styles, though some details differ. The key principles apply in all the main styles:

• Use italics for sources that stand alone
• Use quotation marks for sources that are part of another source

Some examples are shown below, with the proper formatting:

• The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory [book]
• “Poststructuralism” [book chapter]
• Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology [journal]
• “What Is Personality Disorder?” [journal article]
• Friends [TV series]
• “The One Where Rachel Quits” [TV episode]

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Indirect quotation means reporting what someone said without using exactly the same words they did.

It’s a lot like paraphrasing , except that you’re only changing the words you need to in order to fit the statement into your new sentence grammatically. For example, changing the pronouns or the verb tense .

Indirect quotation is more common in everyday speech, but it can occur in academic writing too. When it does, keep in mind that you should only use quotation marks around words taken directly from the original speaker or author.

• One participant stated that “he found the exercises frustrating.”
• One participant stated that he found the exercises frustrating.
• One participant described the exercises as “frustrating.”

“Scare quotes” are quotation marks used around words that are not a direct quotation from a specific source. They are used to signal that a term is being used in an unusual or ironic way, that it is borrowed from someone else, or that the writer is skeptical about the term.

• Many politicians have blamed recent electoral trends on the rise of “fake news.”

While scare quotes have their uses in academic writing (e.g., when referring to controversial terms), they should only be used with good reason. Inappropriate use of scare quotes creates ambiguity.

• The institution organized a fundraiser in support of “underprivileged children.”
• Scientists argue that “global warming” is accelerating due to greenhouse gas emissions.
• The “Brexit” negotiations are still ongoing.

In these examples, the words within scare quotes are widely accepted terms with clear meanings that can’t be attributed to a specific person or source. Using quotation marks implies skepticism about the concepts in question.

The use of single and double quotation marks when quoting differs between US and UK English . In US English, you must use double quotation marks. Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.

In UK English, it’s most common to use single quotation marks, with double quotation marks for quotes within quotes, although the other way around is acceptable too.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:

• APA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
• MLA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.

Quotes within quotes are punctuated differently to distinguish them from the surrounding quote .

• If you use double quotation marks for quotes, use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
• If you use single quotation marks for quotes (e.g., in UK English ), use double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

Make sure to close both sets of quotes!

Indirect quotation means reporting what someone said (or wrote) but not using their exact words. It’s similar to paraphrasing , but it only involves changing enough words to fit the statement into your sentence grammatically (e.g., changing the tense or the pronouns ).

Since some of the words have changed, indirect quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks .

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

McCombes, S. (2022, November 29). When to Use Quotation Marks ("") | Rules & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/quotation-marks/

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Grammar and Style in British English:

A comprehensive guide for students, writers and academics.

• About this site
• The Semicolon
• The Apostrophe
• Quotation Marks
• The Question Mark
• The Exclamation Mark
• Prepositions
• -ed- and -t- Ending Verbs
• The Split Infinitive
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Styles of Writing
• Person and Speech
• Phrasal Verbs
• Clichés, Pleonasms and Verbosity
• Appendix I: Referencing
• Appendix II: The Generic he
• Appendix III: Word Wise
• Appendix IV: Fallacies

Bibliography

Grammar: Quotation Marks [‘  ’] or [“  ”]

Quotation marks (or inverted commas) may be used singly or doubly. Single marks are generally preferred in British English, while double marks are obligatory in American English.

Page contents:

direct speech and reproduced text titles of short works definitions irony, scorn and jargon with other punctuation marks inappropriate use

Direct Speech and Reproduced Text      

      ‘I don't understand’, said Pat,  ‘ why we need passports to travel to other       EU countries. ’

The actual words spoken by Pat comprise direct speech and must, therefore, be marked off from the rest of the sentence by quotation marks.

But quotation marks are not used with indirect speech (speech that is reported rather than quoted) –

      Pat said that she did not understand why we need passports to travel to       other EU countries.

The same rule applies to reproduced text. If a writer wishes to use the words of another writer, or even her own from another source, the passage is enclosed in quotation marks. Short quotations of up to forty words usually appear in the same paragraph in which they are announced –

      Albert Einstein once said,  ‘ The ideals which have always shone before me       and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty and truth ’ .

The practice for longer quotations varies. In publications such as newspapers, books and magazines, the house style usually requires the  same rule: one paragraph unless the quotation itself requires  more –

         Albert Einstein once said,  ‘ The ideals which have always shone before       me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty and truth. To       make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system       of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.           ‘ Without the sense of collaborating with like-minded beings in the pursuit       of the ever  unattainable in art and scientific research, my life would have       been empty. ’ 1

There are three points to note here. Firstly, when a new paragraph is required, it is single-spaced and has its first line indented by a few spaces. Secondly –   and this applies to all quotations wherever they appear – quotation marks are required to open every paragraph, but to close only the last. If the first  paragraph in our last example had been closed with a quotation mark, the reader would assume that the second was a new quotation. Thirdly, the  comma used immediately before the quotation is optional. It is traditional to use one, but some authorities regard it as redundant. 2

In word-processed scripts and some publications, on the other hand, the practice is to use block quotations in which the entire quotation is indented (not just the first lines) and the quotation marks omitted –

      Albert Einstein once said

         The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy          of living are goodness, beauty and truth. To make a goal of comfort or          happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis          would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

         Without the sense of collaborating with like-minded beings in the pursuit          of the ever unattainable in art and scientific research, my life would have          been empty. 3  

In publications, the quoted paragraphs are sometimes written in a different, often smaller, font from that of the main text. We often also see a  colon   used in place of the optional comma before the quotation, but the practice is incorrect when, as above, the beginning of the quotation continues  the sentence begun by the introductory phrase, Albert Einstein said…  

In dialogue, a new paragraph is required for each change of speaker, irrespective of length  –

      Inspector Crawford sat on the sofa, resting an arm along the back.            ‘ What were you doing last Thursday evening? ’ , he asked.            ‘ Thursday? That's when I go to my aerobics class ’ , said Joanne.            ‘ And you attended last Thursday? ’             ‘ Yes ’ .       His eyes, locked on hers, revealed nothing and Joanne hoped he was       sufficiently experienced not to misinterpret her blush.

For quotations within quotations, double marks are used if the outer ones are single, and single marks if the outer ones are double  –

       ‘ Reason, Hume believes, is “the slave of the passions”. ’       (Jonathan Wolff) 4

Titles of Short Works

Quotation marks are traditionally used to enclose the titles of articles, short poems and short stories –

       ‘ The Sense of Justice ’  by John Rawls, in Joel Feinberg (ed.), Moral       Concepts , Oxford Readings in Philosophy, OUP, Suffolk, 1975,  p. 120 ff.

       ‘ The Darkling Thrush ’ , by Thomas Hardy

       ‘ The Open Window ’ , by Saki

But newspapers and some referencing systems , now cite titles and articles without quotation marks.

The names of newspapers, books and films take italics .

Definitions

When a word or expression is defined, the definition (or gloss) appears in quotation marks  –

      B.C. stands for  ‘ Before Christ ’.

When the word to be defined is given in its capacity as a word, it appears in italics  –  

      The word democracy derives from the Greek words demos   ‘ people ’  and       kratos   ‘ power ’.

But note that, if the word or expression is paraphrased rather than literally defined, the information is enclosed in commas as an inessential clause and does not take quotation marks  –      

      Deontology, the theory that morality is determined by the notion of duty       rather than consequence , is the foundation of Kant ’ s ethical  philosophy.

Irony, Scorn and Jargon

Quotation marks are sometimes used to indicate irony or scorn. In this capacity, the quotation marks substitute for the expression so-called   –

      The Met Office announced that it had been the coldest  ‘ summer ’  since       records began.

      Her life savings were stolen by her  ‘ friend ’  and neighbour.

They are also sometimes used to show that the expression is not the author’s but part of the jargon of some field of study or expertise   –

      The 400-metre record breaker went on to say that, ever since he could       remember, his  ‘ significant others ’  were sportsmen and athletes.

but this use is condescending if the readership can reasonably be supposed to be familiar with the expression  –

      The owners of dozens of vehicles damaged in the freak hail storm were       dismayed to learn that their insurance companies refused to pay out for       such  ‘a cts of God ’ .

With Other Punctuation Marks

The question of whether to place other punctuation marks inside or outside quotation marks is a controversial one,   both the British and  American  practices being to some extent at variance with logic. The rule would seem obvious: other punctuation marks appear inside the quotation marks  when they are part of the quotation itself, and outside when they are not. It is one of life’s enduring mysteries, however, why neither British nor American conventions  follows this simple principle.

In the case of commas, both versions of the language adhere illogically to the rule that they always appear inside the closing quotation mark  –

       ‘ Tact, ’  said Abraham Lincoln,  ‘ is the ability to describe others as they       see themselves. ’

This is how both versions of the language would present this sentence (except for the substitution of double quotation marks in the case of  American English). But it can be seen at a glance that the first of the two commas is ungrammatically placed. The comma after tact , that is, is actually  the first of a pair that isolate the writer’s comment, said Abraham Lincoln . Lincoln’s actual words contain no commas at all  –  

       ‘ Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. ’

As part of the writer’s  sentences, then, rather than Lincoln’s, the comma should be placed outside the quotation marks  –

       ‘ Tact ’ , said Abraham Lincoln,  ‘ is the ability to describe others as they       see themselves. ’

With full stops, British and American practices differ, the British this time being more consistent with common sense  –

      Abraham Lincoln said,  ‘ tact is the ability to describe others as they see       themselves ’ .  (British)

      Abraham Lincoln said,  “ tact is the ability to describe others as they see       themselves. ”  (American)

What we have done here is to recast the sentence so that it essentially belongs to the quoting author, not the person quoted. The full stop,  therefore, should end the entire sentence (as in the British version), not just the quoted passage (as in the American).

The use of question marks is a little more sensible in both British and American English. They appear correctly outside the quotation marks when  the  question is the quoting writer's  –

      Was it Shakespeare or Donne who said,  ‘ No man is an island, entire of        it self ’ ?

and inside the marks when the quotation is the question  –

      The police officer said,  ‘ May I see some identification, sir? ’

But things get complicated again when a quoted question appears in a sentence that is itself a question  –

      Was it Cain or Abel who said,  ‘ Am I my brother's keeper? ’ ?

Although a little clumsy looking, this is the logical punctuation: two questions, two question marks. But both British and American English diverge  again and use just one question mark, placing it inside the quotation marks  –

      Was it Cain or Abel who said,  ‘ Am I my brother's keeper? ’

To its credit, however, the Modern Humanities Research Association insists on the logical use  –

      Why does Shakespeare give Malcolm the banal question  ‘ O! by        whom? ’ ? 5

The problem for the writer, of course, is which method of punctuation to use. The choice can be only hers but, if she intends to publish, it is  unlikely that the logical versions will survive the editor’s pencil, whether British or American.

Inappropriate Use

Quotation marks should not be used as excuses for clichés when the writer cannot think of anything more original. Clichés are bad enough in themselves without drawing attention to them  –

      When I first saw the rock from the bus, I expected it to be  ‘ a piece of        cake ’ , but then we all  ‘ live and learn ’ . James helped me a great deal,         though. I'd always thought him a bit stuffy, but he turned out to be a         ‘ real brick ’ .

(See also clichés, pleonasms and verbosity .)

____________

1 Albert Einstein in  I Believe , George Allen and Unwin, London, 1965, p. 27. 2 E.g. R. L. Trask, The Penguin Guide to Punctuation , Penguin Books, London, p. 97. 3 Block paragraphing, in fact, is a standard feature of word processing. On this page, for example, the paragraphs of the principal text are separated    by double spaces and have no first-line indentations. 4  Jonathan Wolff, Political Philosophy , Revised Edition, OUP, Oxford, 2006, p. 57. 5   MHRA Style Book , Fifth Edition, Modern Humanities Research Association, 1996, p. 35.

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Understanding Quotation Marks (Rules, When to Use, Single, Double, Examples)

What are quotation marks? Quotation marks are known as quotes, inverted commas, talking marks, and speech marks. Many students of the English language don’t have a complete understanding of where and how to use quotation marks. Moreover, it’s important to know about the different types of quotation marks to use them appropriately when writing.

In this article, we’ll discuss quotation marks and their appropriate grammatical use.

What are quotation marks?

Quotation marks highlight a word, phrase, or sentence that is in some way different from the rest of the text. It could be a quotation from someone or some book, a proverb, maxim, word meaning, name, or anything else that requires special attention from the readers.

We also use quotation marks to ironically talk about something.

Consider the following examples:

• My school canteen serves “delicious” food
• He is a “progressive” in his beliefs

In the above sentences, the words ‘delicious’ and ‘progressive’ are meant to express the opposite of what they mean. The food in the school canteen is actually terrible, and the person’s beliefs aren’t really progressive. We generally need a context to understand when quotation marks are being used ironically.

Different quotation marks are used in different contexts. Let’s learn more about the variations of quotation marks.

Double and single quotation marks

• Double quotation marks: “”
• Single quotation marks: ‘Single’

When to use double quotation marks and when to use single quotation marks? The answer depends largely on which variation of English we are talking about. Single quotes are more common in British and Australian English. On the other hand, double quotation marks are more frequent in American and Canadian English.

When writing for a publication or journal, follow the in-house guidelines on using quotation marks. Some prefer double quotations, while others go for single quotation marks.

Consistency is often more important than the type of quotation mark used. When we primarily use double quotation marks, we don’t throw in single quotation marks for a few words and phrases – and vice versa .

The first time I went to France, I had this dish called “Bœuf bourguignon”. In English, we call it ‘beef Burgundy’. [Wrong]

I was reading ‘Don Quixote’. Sorry to say, but I hardly ‘enjoyed’ it. [Correct]

When unsure about using single or double quotation marks , stick to either and use them consistently.

Quotation marks inside quotation marks

Consider the following example:

• My teacher said, “Focus on ‘verbs’, ‘adjectives’, and ‘pronouns’ for the upcoming test.”
• My teacher said, ‘Focus on “verbs”, “adjectives”, and “pronouns” for the upcoming test.’

Both the above sentences are examples of correctly using quotation marks inside quotation marks. Choose either double or single quotation marks for the main sentence within quotes. As long as the main sentence is in single quotation marks, use double quotation marks for the words and phrases within it – and vice versa.

Be consistent with the use of quotation marks within quotation marks in a piece of writing. When following the [double quotes] (single quotes) [double quotes] template, use it consistently across the writing. Don’t switch to the [single quotes] (double quotes) [single quotes] template in the middle of the writing.

Block quotes

When quoting multiple lines from a person, book, article, or report, the convention is to use block quotes instead of quotation marks. Writing styles like Harvard, APA, MLA, and Chicago APSA have specific rules on using block quotes. Typically, block quotes are indented to the right and follow a colon (:). Here’s an example of using block quotes in writing:

The world is going through a climate crisis , according to experts from around the world. According to the latest Climate Change Report, we have serious issues to tackle in the near future:

There has been a rapid growth in carbon emission rates over the last decade. If governments and industrialists from developed countries don’t take active initiatives in combatting this phenomenon, we can expect serious catastrophes by the year 2050.

By changing the alignment of the text, it becomes clear that this section of article is taken from another source, which is the Climate Change Report in this case. Block quotes are common in books, long-form articles, research papers, and even news reports.

In digital mediums, extracts from other writing/articles would often be italicized. But it’s not mandatory, especially when following the guidelines of a writing style like APA, MLA, or Harvard. Consistency is crucial for block quotes as well.

Using quotation marks as literary tools

Apart from serving as a utility in writing, quotation marks are also literary tools for writers. They are frequently used to highlight ironic remarks.

• My friend took a 2-hour masterclass on making money. Now he’s a “financial expert”.
• Apparently, what we said caused a lot of “pain” and “discomfort”.
• I saw a movie last night and thought it was really “creative”.

In the above sentences, the words and phrases inside the quotation marks express the opposite of what they mean. Irony is a figure of speech where we mean the opposite of what we say.

It’s possible to use irony without quotation marks, but highlighting the ironic words makes it easier for the reader to understand the irony.

Quotation marks also highlight puns. For the uninitiated, a pun is a play on the different possible meanings of the same word.

Here are a few examples of using quotation marks for puns:

• You should trust a person who sells glue. They generally “stick” to their words.
• Though they are both musicians, they fail to strike a “chord”.
• The days in a calendar are “numbered”.

The above three sentences play on the different meanings of the same words – stick, chord, and numbered. We can use quotation marks to highlight the wordplay and grab the readers’ attention.

However, many writers choose to not put their puns and wordplay into quotation marks for the sake of subtlety and flow.

As always, when using quotation marks to highlight puns, use single or double quotation marks consistently throughout the reference (don’t mix and match quotation marks).

Quotation marks for titles of works

We use quotation marks for titles of literary works like poems, short stories, novels, movies, documentaries, etc. There are some conventions regarding how to use quotation marks for literary works. Let’s learn more about it.

Shorter works like poems, short stories, episodes

We generally put shorter literary works inside quotation marks.

• I was reading Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” yesterday.
• “The Last Leaf” is an amazing short story by O Henry.
• “The Last One” is the final episode of Friends .

In both of the above examples, we have put smaller pieces of literary works inside quotation marks. “The Last Leaf” is a short story while “Ode to a Nightingale” is a poem. Since these literary works are shorter in length than a novel or movie, the convention is to put these names inside quotation marks.

Longer works like novels, movies, books, documentaries

The convention for mentioning longer literary works is to italicize them. Most modern writing guides like MLA, APA, and Harvard ask writers to italicize longer works.

Here are some examples:

• My favorite movie is Nolan’s Inception.
• Lyrical Ballads is widely considered the most significant collection of romantic poems.
• “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a poem from the Lyrical Ballads .
• I have only read “The Fellowship of the Ring” from Lord of the Rings

Handwritten text

What will you do when you don’t have the option of italicizing the name of a book or movie? For example, how do we write the name of a longer work when writing an exam on a sheet of paper?

In these situations, here are a few things we can do:

• Underline the name of the work. For example, write “Lyrical Ballads is widely considered the most significant collection of romantic poems”.
• Underline the name and also put it inside quotation marks – “Lyrical Ballads” is widely considered the most significant collection of romantic poems.

What if we have to write about both shorter and longer literary works in a handwritten text?

In these cases, use a combination of quotation marks and underline, for example:

• “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a poem from the Lyrical Ballads.
• ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is a poem from the “Lyrical Ballads”.

As always, be consistent with the adopted method. When underlining the names of major works, keep underlining all the names and don’t put them inside quotation marks in some cases. When we are putting the names inside quotation marks and also underlining them, we do the same for every name in a particular text.

Since these guidelines vary from one writing style to another, the best option is to refer to the official writing guide and style that is supposed to be followed.

Punctuation and quotation marks

There’s a lot of confusion regarding how to use punctuation inside quotation marks, particularly regarding where to put the full stop.

When quoting two or more sentences, the full stops will obviously be inside quotation marks.

Here are a few examples:

“My friend is a soldier. He is now serving in Afghanistan.”

“Look! What a beautiful sight!”

The main confusion here is where to put the final full stop – inside our outside quotation marks.

In American English, the full stops are generally inside quotation marks. For example:

“I am going to study.”

“Mary was wearing a beautiful dress.”

In British English, the final full stops are always outside quotation marks.

For example:

“I am going to study”.

“Mary was wearing a beautiful dress”.

When it comes to question and exclamation marks, the position of the punctuation marks depends on the phrase inside the quotation marks.

• She asked, “Do you want to have a cup of coffee?”
• Have you seen “The Wolf of Wall Street”?
• Mary exclaimed, “This can’t be true!”
• John was surprised that she had never heard of “Once upon a Time in Hollywood”!

Remember these basic rules on punctuation marks and quotation marks to never get their usage wrong.

Straight quotes vs. curly quotes

Both straight quotes and curly (smart) quotes are correct. 

Straight quotes look like this: “straight quotes”

Curly quotes look like this: “curly quotes”

Curly/smart quotes are automatically added in all modern word processing software. It’s more of an aesthetic element than a grammatical nuance. The important thing here is to be consistent with the type of quotes used in an article. Use either curly or straight quotes throughout the article/writing.

Quotation marks while speaking

Until now, we only discussed the use of quotation marks in writing. But what about speaking — be it a casual conversation or a narration? The answer is simple.

We say one of these two things:

• Quote-unquote
• And I quote
• He is a quote-unquote hardworking person, but in reality, he exploits the vulnerabilities of other people.
• John said, and I quote, the world can only be a better place if we start helping each other.

Sometimes the speaker would say “end of quote” to signify where the quote ends, and sometimes it’s implied.

Other punctuation marks

Here are the other punctuation marks to be aware of:

The main types of quotation marks are:

• Single quotes: ‘single quotes’
• Double quotes: “double quotes”
• Straight quotes: “straight quotes”
• Curly/smart quotes: “double quotes”

Either say:

• Quote-unquote, for example, John is a quote-unquote cruel person but he has a heart of gold .
• And I quote, for example, John said, and I quote, the world is going through an unprecedented crisis right now.

When typing in a word processor, always italicize the names of books, movies, and other longer literary texts. When writing on a sheet of paper, underline the titles of longer literary works. These conventions also depend on specific citation guides like MLA, APA, and Harvard.

Th double quotes and single quotes ” ” or ‘ ‘ are used at beginning and the end of a direction quotation. For direct quotations, we would typically use double quotes. Use one of the two, according to which type of sentence you have. Although, use the same type throughout your writing.

A closing quotation mark (or final quotation mark) is identified as ”, it has a slight lean to the right side (visually).

• Quotation Marks: When to Use Single or Double Quotes | Scribendi
• Curly quotes and straight quotes: a quick guide – Writer
• Quotation marks in English – Wikipedia
• Quotation Marks “” | Writing | EnglishClub
• Quotation Marks: How To Use Them Correctly (With Examples) | Grammarly
• How to Block Quote | Length, Format and Examples (scribbr.com)
• Examples of Puns: Exploring What They Are and Different Types (yourdictionary.com)

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Grammar: How To Use Speech Marks Correctly

Written by Dan

Last updated September 20, 2023

Understanding how to use speech marks correctly in reading and writing is an essential grammar skill that can help your students effectively communicate their ideas.

However, mastering the correct usage of these punctuation symbols can be a challenge for some children.

By clearly demonstrating the purpose of speech marks and providing plenty of practice opportunities, you can give your students the confidence to utilize them accurately in all sorts of contexts.

In this blog post, we will discuss what speech marks are, when they should be used, and how to teach effective grammar lessons focusing on their use.

So, if you’re looking for fresh ways to engage students with learning about grammar via speech mark practices then keep reading!

Table of Contents

Understanding Speech Marks

What are speech marks.

Speech marks, also known as quotation marks or inverted commas, are punctuation marks used in pairs to indicate direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase.

They play a key role in guiding the reader through the text by indicating who is speaking or highlighting essential phrases.

Have you ever wondered how you know when a character in a book is speaking? That’s right! It’s because of the speech marks.

The Role and Importance of Speech Marks in Writing and Reading

Speech marks serve a critical function in both writing and reading. In writing, they help to distinguish dialogue from narrative, highlight specific phrases or words for emphasis, and indicate direct quotations from sources.

In reading, they provide visual cues that aid comprehension and interpretation.

Imagine reading a novel without speech marks. It would be challenging to differentiate between the characters’ spoken words and the author’s narrative, wouldn’t it?

Speech marks create clarity and structure, making our reading experience more enjoyable and efficient.

Common Misconceptions About Speech Marks

One common misconception is that speech marks are only used to denote dialogue. While this is one of their primary functions, it is not their sole purpose.

They can also be used to indicate irony, introduce unfamiliar terms or phrases, or signify titles of short works.

Another misconception is that single and double speech marks can be used interchangeably. However, their usage varies based on regional style guidelines.

For instance, American English typically uses double speech marks (” “), while British English often prefers single speech marks (‘ ‘).

When to Use Speech Marks

Scenarios for using speech marks.

Speech marks are not just decorative flourishes in our writing; they have specific functions and should be used appropriately. So, when exactly should we use them?

• Direct Speech : This is the most common scenario for using speech marks. Whenever a character or person is speaking directly, their words should be enclosed within speech marks. For instance: “I’m excited about the upcoming vacation,” she said.
• Quotations : When quoting a phrase or sentence directly from a source, we use speech marks to indicate that these are not our own words. For example: As Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
• Titles of Short Works : Speech marks are used to denote the titles of short works like poems , short stories, song titles, and articles. Example: I just read “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
• Words Used Unusually or Sarcasm : When a word is used in an unconventional way or to indicate sarcasm or irony, it is often placed within speech marks. Example: He was so “excited” to clean his room.

Examples Demonstrating Correct Use of Speech Marks

Let’s put this into practice with some examples:

• Direct Speech: John said, “I will pick you up at 8 pm.”
• Quotation: The motivational speaker started his speech with, “As Nelson Mandela once said, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done.'”
• Title: Have you read the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?
• Sarcasm: Yeah, I really “love” getting stuck in traffic.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even with the best intentions, errors can creep into our use of speech marks. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them:

• Incorrect Placement of Punctuation : In American English, periods and commas go inside the speech marks, regardless of logic. For instance: “I’m going to the park,” she said. Not “I’m going to the park”, she said.
• Single and Double Speech Marks : Remember, the use of single (‘ ‘) and double (” “) speech marks depends on regional style guidelines. Stick to one style consistently throughout your writing.
• Unnecessary Use of Speech Marks : Speech marks should not be used for emphasis. Instead, use italics or bold. Incorrect: The “best” ice cream in town. Correct: The best ice cream in town.

How to Teach Speech Marks Effectively

The importance of clear demonstrations and practice opportunities.

Teaching speech marks is not just about explaining the rules; it’s about illustrating these rules with clear examples and providing ample practice opportunities.

Why, you ask? Because learning is a process of doing. It’s one thing to understand the theory behind speech marks, but applying that knowledge consistently in writing is what truly ingrains the concept.

To demonstrate the use of speech marks, start by showing students examples from their favorite books or articles. Discuss how the speech marks guide them through who’s speaking or what’s being emphasized.

Then, let them practice by writing dialogues or quoting phrases, and encourage peer reviews for constructive feedback.

Strategies and Tips for Teaching Speech Marks Correctly

• Use Visual Aids : Visual aids like posters or flashcards with speech mark rules can be potent tools. Display them prominently in the classroom or share them online for easy reference.
• Encourage Reading : The more students read, the more they’ll see speech marks in action. This exposure will help them understand and remember when and how to use them.
• Create Sentence Starters : Provide sentence starters that require speech marks, such as “She said, ‘…'” or “‘…,’ he thought.” This will give students a framework to begin practicing.
• Give Regular Feedback : Regular and specific feedback is crucial in helping students improve . Praise correct usage and gently correct mistakes, explaining clearly why changes are necessary.

Innovative Methods to Engage Students in Learning About Speech Marks

Learning doesn’t have to be boring, and teaching speech marks is no exception. Here are some innovative methods to make learning about speech marks fun and engaging:

• Speech Marks Games: Create games where students have to spot errors in the use of speech marks or add them correctly in sentences.
• Worksheets : Worksheets with fill-in-the-blank exercises or sentence correction tasks can provide valuable practice. You can find many such resources online or create your own tailored to your students’ needs.
• Online Resources : Websites like Khan Academy or Grammarly offer interactive lessons and quizzes on speech marks. These platforms turn learning into a fun, game-like experience.

Teaching speech marks effectively requires a balance of clear instruction, ample practice opportunities, and engaging activities.

With these strategies, you’re well on your way to making your students’ journey in mastering speech marks an exciting and rewarding one!

Educators, the baton is now in your hands! You have been equipped with a treasure chest of strategies, tips, and resources to teach speech marks effectively.

Remember, as you navigate this journey, your role is to impart knowledge and inspire curiosity and a love for language in your students.

Take these strategies and mould them to fit your unique classroom environment . Adapt them to cater to your students’ diverse learning styles.

Your dedication to teaching these fundamental aspects of grammar will lay the groundwork for their success in reading and writing.

As we wrap up this discussion on speech marks, let’s not view it as an end but as a stepping stone to broader horizons.

The world of grammar teaching practices is vast and ever-evolving, filled with innovative methods and exciting discoveries.

So, continue exploring, continue learning. Dive into professional development courses, join online teaching communities, or exchange ideas with your fellow educators.

Every step you take in this direction enriches your teaching repertoire and empowers your students in their learning journey.

Remember, every great writer was once a learner; perhaps an educator like you sparked that flame.

So, go ahead, ignite the spark. Who knows? You might just be nurturing the next Shakespeare or J.K. Rowling in your classroom!

Keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep inspiring. The world needs more educators like you.

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Quotation Marks

Introduction.

Quotation marks are a crucial part of our written language. They're used to denote speech, highlight certain words or phrases, quote directly from text, or sometimes indicate irony or sarcasm. There are two types of quotation marks used in English: double quotation marks (“ ”) and single quotation marks (‘ ’). In this tutorial, we will cover the use of both types in-depth, aim to eliminate any confusion and help you improve your writing skills.

Table of Contents

Direct Quotations

One of the most common uses for quotation marks is to show direct quotations. These are the exact words someone has spoken or written.

To illustrate, let's look at an example:

Example: John said, “I will be five minutes late.”

In this sentence, the words directly spoken by John are enclosed within quotation marks.

Dividing a quotation

Sometimes, a quotation is interrupted by 'he said' or 'she said' in between. In such cases, quotation marks are placed at the beginning and end of the quoted words, and at the beginning of any words quoted after the interruption.

Example: “I don’t care,” she said, “what you think.”

Quotations within quotations

When we have a quotation within another quotation, we use single quotation marks.

Example: David said, “Did you hear him say, ‘I'm not coming’?”

In the sentence, the words ‘I'm not coming’ are the inner quotation, and hence are enclosed in single quotation marks, while the whole speech is enclosed in double quotation marks.

Indirect Quotations

Quotation marks are not used for indirect quotations. These are the quotations where we paraphrase what someone has said, not the exact words.

Example: John said that he would be five minutes late.

Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

One of the common areas of confusion is whether other punctuation should go outside or inside the quotation marks. Here are the general rules that should help you:

1. Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. Example: “I love football,” he said.

2. Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quote but outside if they are part of the entire sentence. Example: Did he just say, “see you later”?

3. Colons and semicolons, when they are used, always go outside the quotation marks. Example: She had one favorite mantra: “always be kind.”

Single Quotation Marks

As we saw earlier, single quotation marks are used when a quotation is within another quotation. However, in British English, single quotation marks are used as the primary mark and double quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.

Example: David said, ‘Did you hear him say, “I'm not coming”?’

Quotation Marks for Emphasis

Sometimes we use quotation marks to highlight a specific word or phrase and to draw attention to it. This is often used when writing about words themselves.

Example: The word 'compromise' does not appear in his vocabulary.

Quotation Marks for Irony or Sarcasm

Quotation marks can also be used to denote irony or sarcasm. By putting the word or words in quotes, we indicate that the term is not being used in its standard, dictionary-defined sense.

Example: Thanks for not helping me at all with my luggage, you’re quite the 'gentleman'.

Quotation marks are an essential part of our written language. With this guide, you should now feel more comfortable using quotation marks accurately in your writing. Remember that correct usage enhances clarity and professionalism in your writing.

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Using the quotation marks

Quotation marks (“ ”) are used to set off text that denotes quoted or spoken language.

Quotation marks are also used to set off titles of stories, novels and poems.

In American English, it is not uncommon for periods and commas to go inside quotation marks.

For example, an American may write:

• My favorite novel is “Gulliver’s Travels.”

This use of punctuation marks within the quotation marks is not considered appropriate in British English.

So if you follow the rules of British English, you are more likely to write:

• My favorite novel is ‘Gulliver’s Travels’.

Note that if the text inside the quotation marks is a sentence, then a full stop can be used at the end.

• He always said, “Be careful what you wish for.”
• He always said, “Be careful what you wish for”.

We use quotation marks when we quote direct speech. Single quotation marks (‘ ’) are more common in British English and double quotation marks (“ ”) in American English.

• Albert said, “Get that woman out of here.”

A long passage of direct speech inside the quotation marks may be introduced by a colon.

• Announcing the quarterly earnings, the Chairman said: “A number of factors have contributed to the stellar performance of the company.”

A colon is also used when direct speech is introduced by a name.

• Lord Polonius: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

In reporting words that are said internally, but not spoken out loudly, the writer may or may not use quotation marks.

• “What a lovely morning!” Maria said to herself.
• What a lovely morning, Maria said to herself.

26 Types of Punctuation Marks & Typographical Symbols

• What Is Punctuation?
• What Is A Typographical Symbol?
• Punctuation Vs. Typographical Symbols
• Types Of Punctuation And Symbols
• Try Grammar Coach

We use words in writing. Shocking, I know! Do you know what else we use in writing? Here is a hint: they have already appeared in this paragraph. In addition to words, we use many different symbols and characters to organize our thoughts and make text easier to read. All of these symbols come in two major categories: punctuation marks and typographical symbols . These symbols have many different uses and include everything from the humble period ( . ) to the rarely used caret symbol ( ^ ). There may even be a few symbols out there that you’ve never even heard of before that leave you scratching your head when you see them on your keyboard!

What is punctuation ?

Punctuation is the act or system of using specific marks or symbols in writing to separate different elements from each other or to make writing more clear. Punctuation is used in English and the other languages that use the Latin alphabet. Many other writing systems also use punctuation, too. Thanks to punctuation, we don’t have to suffer through a block of text that looks like this:

• My favorite color is red do you like red red is great my sister likes green she always says green is the color of champions regardless of which color is better we both agree that no one likes salmon which is a fish and not a color seriously

Punctuation examples

The following sentences give examples of the many different punctuation marks that we use:

• My dog , Bark Scruffalo , was featured in a superhero movie . 
• If there ’ s something strange in your neighborhood , who are you going to call ?
• A wise man once said , “ Within the body of every person lies a skeleton .”
• Hooray ! I found everything on the map : the lake , the mountain , and the forest . 
• I told Ashley ( if that was her real name ) that I needed the copy lickety-split .

What is a typographical symbol ?

The term typographical symbol , or any other number of phrases, refers to a character or symbol that isn’t considered to be a punctuation mark but may still be used in writing for various purposes. Typographical symbols are generally avoided in formal writing under most circumstances. However, you may see typographic symbols used quite a bit in informal writing.

Typographical symbol examples

The following examples show some ways that a writer might use typographical symbols. Keep in mind that some of these sentences may not be considered appropriate in formal writing.

• The frustrated actor said she was tired of her co-star’s “annoying bull **** .”
• For questions, email us at anascabana @ bananacabanas.fake!
• The band had five # 1 singles on the American music charts during the 1990s.
• My internet provider is AT & T.

⚡️ Punctuation vs. typographical symbols

Punctuation marks are considered part of grammar and often have well-established rules for how to use them properly. For example, the rules of proper grammar state that a letter after a period should be capitalized and that a comma must be used before a coordinating conjunction.

Typographical symbols, on the other hand, may not have widely accepted rules for how, or even when, they should be used. Generally speaking, most grammar resources will only allow the use of typographical symbols under very specific circumstances and will otherwise advise a writer to avoid using them.

Types of punctuation and symbols

There are many different types of punctuation marks and typographical symbols. We’ll briefly touch on them now, but you can learn more about these characters by checking out the links in this list and also each section below:

• Question mark
• Exclamation point
• Parentheses
• Square brackets
• Curly brackets
• Angle brackets
• Quotation marks
• Bullet point
• Pound symbol
• Caret symbol
• Pipe symbol

Period, question mark, and exclamation point

These three commonly used punctuation marks are used for the same reason: to end an independent thought.

A period is used to end a declarative sentence . A period indicates that a sentence is finished.

• Today is Friday .

Unique to them, periods are also often used in abbreviations.

• Prof . Dumbledore once again awarded a ludicrous amount of points to Gryffindor.

Question mark (?)

The question mark is used to end a question, also known as an interrogative sentence .

• Do you feel lucky ?

Exclamation point (!)

The exclamation point is used at the end of exclamations and interjections .

• Our house is haunted ! 

Comma, colon, and semicolon

Commas, colons, and semicolons can all be used to connect sentences together.

The comma is often the punctuation mark that gives writers the most problems. It has many different uses and often requires good knowledge of grammar to avoid making mistakes when using it. Some common uses of the comma include:

• Joining clauses: Mario loves Peach , and she loves him . 
• Nonrestrictive elements: My favorite team , the Fighting Mongooses , won the championship this year.
• Lists: The flag was red , white , and blue.
• Coordinate adjectives: The cute , happy puppy licked my hand.

Try out this quiz on the Oxford comma!

The colon is typically used to introduce additional information.

• The detective had three suspects : the salesman, the gardener, and the lawyer.

Like commas, colons can also connect clauses together.

• We forgot to ask the most important question : who was buying lunch?

Colons have a few other uses, too.

• The meeting starts at 8:15 p.m.
• The priest started reading from Mark 3:6 .

Semicolon (;)

Like the comma and the colon, the semicolon is used to connect sentences together. The semicolon typically indicates that the second sentence is closely related to the one before it.

• I can’t eat peanuts ; I am highly allergic to them.
• Lucy loves to eat all kinds of sweets ; lollipops are her favorite.

Hyphen and dashes (en dash and em dash)

All three of these punctuation marks are often referred to as “dashes.” However, they are all used for entirely different reasons.

The hyphen is used to form compound words.

• I went to lunch with my father-in-law .
• She was playing with a jack-in-the-box .
• He was accused of having pro-British sympathies.

En dash (–)

The en dash is used to express ranges or is sometimes used in more complex compound words.

• The homework exercises are on pages 20–27 .
• The songwriter had worked on many Tony Award–winning productions.

Em dash (—)

The em dash is used to indicate a pause or interrupted speech.

• The thief was someone nobody expected —me !
• “Those kids will— ” was all he managed to say before he was hit by a water balloon.

Test your knowledge on the different dashes here.

Parentheses, brackets, and braces

These pairs of punctuation marks look similar, but they all have different uses. In general, the parentheses are much more commonly used than the others.

Parentheses ()

Typically, parentheses are used to add additional information.

• I thought (for a very long time) if I should actually give an honest answer.
• Tomorrow is Christmas (my favorite holiday) !

Parentheses have a variety of other uses, too.

• Pollution increased significantly. (See Chart 14B)
• He was at an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.
• Richard I of England (1157–1199) had the heart of a lion.

Square brackets []

Typically, square brackets  are used to clarify or add information to quotations.

• According to an eyewitness, the chimpanzees “climbed on the roof and juggled [bananas] .”
• The judge said that “the defense attorney [Mr. Wright] had made it clear that the case was far from closed.”

Curly brackets {}

Curly brackets , also known as braces , are rarely used punctuation marks that are used to group a set.

• I was impressed by the many different colors {red, green, yellow, blue, purple, black, white} they selected for the flag’s design.

Angle brackets <>

Angle brackets have no usage in formal writing and are rarely ever used even in informal writing. These characters have more uses in other fields, such as math or computing.

Quotation marks and apostrophe

You’ll find these punctuation marks hanging out at the top of a line of text.

Quotation marks (“”)

The most common use of quotation marks is to contain quotations.

• She said, “ Don’t let the dog out of the house. ”
• Bob Ross liked to put “ happy little trees ” in many of his paintings.

Apostrophe (‘)

The apostrophe is most often used to form possessives and contractions.

• The house ’ s back door is open.
• My cousin ’ s birthday is next week.
• It isn ’ t ready yet.
• We should ’ ve stayed outside.

Slash and ellipses

These are two punctuation marks you may not see too often, but they are still useful.

The slash has several different uses. Here are some examples:

• Relationships: The existence of boxer briefs somehow hasn’t ended the boxers/briefs debate.
• Alternatives: They accept cash and/or credit.
• Fractions: After an hour, 2/3 of the audience had already left.

Ellipses (…)

In formal writing, ellipses are used to indicate that words were removed from a quote.

• The mayor said, “The damages will be … paid for by the city … as soon as possible.”

In informal writing, ellipses are often used to indicate pauses or speech that trails off.

• He nervously stammered and said, “Look, I … You see … I wasn’t … Forget it, okay.”

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Typographical symbols

Typographical symbols rarely appear in formal writing. You are much more likely to see them used for a variety of reasons in informal writing.

Asterisk (*)

In formal writing, especially academic and scientific writing, the asterisk is used to indicate a footnote.

• Chocolate is the preferred flavor of ice cream.* * According to survey data from the Ice Cream Data Center.

The asterisk may also be used to direct a reader toward a clarification or may be used to censor inappropriate words or phrases.

Ampersand (&)

The ampersand substitutes for the word and . Besides its use in the official names of things, the ampersand is typically avoided in formal writing.

•  The band gave a speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame .

Bullet Point (•)

Bullet points are used to create lists. For example,

For this recipe you will need:

• baking powder

Pound symbol (#)

Informally, the pound symbol is typically used to mean number or is used in social media hashtags.

• The catchy pop song reached #1 on the charts.
• Ready 4 Halloween 2morrow!!! #spooky #TrickorTreat

Besides being used as an accent mark in Spanish and Portuguese words, the tilde is rarely used. Informally, a person may use it to mean “about” or “approximately.”

• We visited São Paulo during our vacation.
• I think my dog weighs ~20 pounds.

Backslash (\)

The backslash is primarily used in computer programming and coding. It might be used online and in texting to draw emoticons , but it has no other common uses in writing. Be careful not to mix it up with the similar forward slash (/), which is a punctuation mark.

At symbol (@)

The at symbol substitutes for the word at in informal writing. In formal writing, it is used when writing email addresses.

• His email address is [email protected] .

Caret symbol (^)

The caret symbol is used in proofreading, but may be used to indicate an exponent if a writer is unable to use superscript .

• Do you know what 3 ^ 4 (3 to the power of 4) is equal to?

Pipe symbol (|)

The pipe symbol is not used in writing. Instead, it has a variety of functions in the fields of math, physics, or computing.

How much do you know about verbs? Learn about them here.

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Punctuation

The most common punctuation marks in English are: capital letters and full stops, question marks, commas, colons and semi-colons, exclamation marks and quotation marks.

In speaking, we use pauses and the pitch of the voice to make what we say clear. Punctuation plays a similar role in writing, making it easier to read.

Punctuation consists of both rules and conventions. There are rules of punctuation that have to be followed; but there are also punctuation conventions that give writers greater choice.

Punctuation: capital letters (B, D) and full stops (.)

We use capital letters to mark the beginning of a sentence and we use full stops to mark the end of a sentence:

W e went to France last summer. W e were really surprised that it was so easy to travel on the motorways.

T he Football World Cup takes place every four years. T he next World Cup will be held in South Africa. I n 2006 it was held in Germany.

We also use capital letters at the beginning of proper nouns. Proper nouns include personal names (including titles before names), nationalities and languages, days of the week and months of the year, public holidays as well as geographical places:

D r D avid J ames is the consultant at L eeds C ity H ospital.

They are planning a long holiday in N ew Z ealand.

Can she speak J apanese?

The next meeting of the group will take place on T hursday.

What plans do you have for C hinese N ew Y ear?

We use capital letters for the titles of books, magazines and newspapers, plays and music:

‘ O liver’ is a musical based on the novel ‘ O liver T wist’ by Charles Dickens.

The S traits T imes is a daily English language newspaper in Singapore.

They are performing Beethoven’s S ixth S ymphony.

In addition to closing sentences, we also use full stops in initials for personal names:

G. W. Dwyer

David A. Johnston, Accountant

Full stops are also used after abbreviations, although this practice is becoming less common:

Noun phrases

Punctuation: question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!)

We use question marks to make clear that what is said is a question. When we use a question mark, we do not use a full stop:

Why do they make so many mistakes ?

A: So you’re Harry’s cousin ? B: Yes. That’s right .

We use exclamation marks to indicate an exclamative clause or expression in informal writing. When we want to emphasise something in informal writing, we sometimes use more than one exclamation mark:

Oh no !!! Please don’t ask me to phone her. She’ll talk for hours !!!

Exclamative clauses

Punctuation: commas (,)

We use commas to separate a list of similar words or phrases:

It’s important to write in clear, simple, accurate words.

They were more friendly, more talkative, more open than last time we met them.

We do not normally use a comma before and at the end of a list of single words:

They travelled through Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

American English does use a comma in lists before and :

We took bread, cheese, and fruit with us.

We use commas to separate words or phrases that mark where the voice would pause slightly:

I can’t tell you now. However, all will be revealed tomorrow at midday.

We had, in fact, lost all of our money.

James, our guide, will accompany you on the boat across to the island.

Separating clauses with commas

When main clauses are separated by and , or , but , we don’t normally use a comma if the clauses have the same subject. However, we sometimes use commas if the clauses have different subjects:

They were very friendly and invited us to their villa in Portugal. (same subject)

Footballers these days earn more money but they are fitter and play many more matches. (same subject)

It was an expensive hotel in the centre of Stockholm, but we decided it was worth the money. (different subjects)

When a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, we commonly use a comma to separate the clauses. However, we do not always do this in short sentences:

If you get lost in the city centre, please don’t hesitate to text us or phone us.

If you get lost just phone us.

When we use subordinate or non-finite comment clauses to give further details or more information, we commonly use commas to separate the clauses:

You do need to wear a darker jacket, if I may say so.

To be honest, I thought they were very very rude.

Commas and relative clauses

We use commas to mark non-defining clauses. Such clauses normally add extra, non-essential information about the noun or noun phrase:

The ambulance, which arrived after just five minutes, took three people to the hospital immediately.

Hong Kong, where the first ASEAN meeting was held, is a very different city now.

The same is true for non-finite clauses:

The storm, lasting as it did for several days, caused serious damage to villages near the coast.

We don’t use commas to mark defining clauses:

Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games.

Not: … the Spanish city, that was selected …

Commas and speech forms

We commonly separate tags and yes-no responses with commas:

They are going to the party, aren’t they?

No, thank you. I’ve already eaten too much.

We also usually separate vocatives, discourse markers and interjections with commas:

Open the door for them, Kayleigh , can you. Thanks. (vocative)

Well , what do you think we should do about it? (discourse marker)

Wow , that sounds really exciting. (interjection)

We use commas to show that direct speech is following or has just occurred:

He said in his opening speech, ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’ (or He said in his opening speech: ‘Now is the time to plan for the future .’)

When the direct speech is first, we use a comma before the closing of the quotation marks:

‘We don’t want to go on holiday to the same place every year,’ he said impatiently.

Reported speech

Punctuation: colons (:) and semi-colons (;)

We use colons to introduce lists:

There are three main reasons for the success of the government: economic, social and political.

We also use colons to indicate a subtitle or to indicate a subdivision of a topic:

Life in Provence : A Personal View

We often use colons to introduce direct speech:

Then he said : ‘I really cannot help you in any way.’

We commonly use a colon between sentences when the second sentence explains or justifies the first sentence:

Try to keep your flat clean and tidy : it will sell more easily.

We use semi-colons instead of full stops to separate two main clauses. In such cases, the clauses are related in meaning but are separated grammatically:

Spanish is spoken throughout South America; in Brazil the main language is Portuguese.

Semi-colons are not commonly used in contemporary English. Full stops and commas are more common.

Punctuation: quotation marks (‘…’ or “…”)

Quotation marks in English are ‘…’ or “…”. In direct speech, we enclose what is said within a pair of single or double quotation marks, although single quotation marks are becoming more common. Direct speech begins with a capital letter and can be preceded by a comma or a colon:

She said, “ Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant? ” (or She said: ‘Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant?’ )

We can put the reporting clause in three different positions. Note the position of commas and full stops here:

The fitness trainer said, ‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin.’ (quotation mark after comma introducing speech and after full stop)

‘ Don’t try to do too much when you begin ,’ the fitness trainer said. (comma before closing quotation mark)

‘ Don’t try to do too much ,’ the fitness trainer said , ‘ when you begin. ’ (commas separating the reporting clause)

When we use direct speech inside direct speech, we use either single quotation marks inside double quotation marks, or double quotation marks inside single quotation marks:

“ It was getting really cold, ” he said, “ and they were saying ‘ When can we go back home? ’”

Jaya said, ‘ They were getting really excited and were shouting “ Come on! ”’ .

We commonly use question marks inside the quotation marks unless the question is part of the reporting clause:

‘Why don’t they know who is responsible?’ they asked.

So did they really say ‘We will win every match for the next three weeks’?

We also use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word. We can use quotation marks in this way when we want to question the exact meaning of the word:

I am very disappointed by his ‘ apology ’ . I don’t think he meant it at all.

NEW ‘ WAR ’ OVER NORTH SEA FISHING PLANS

We sometimes use quotation marks to refer to the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, films, songs, poems, videos, CDs, etc:

There’s a special report all about it in ‘ The Daily Mail ’ .

We can use italics instead of quotation marks for these citations:

There’s a special report all about it in The Daily Mail.

Articles or chapters within books, or titles of short stories, are normally punctuated by single quotation marks:

The longest chapter in the book is the last one called ‘ The Future of Africa ’ .

Punctuation: dashes ( – ) and other punctuation marks

Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used in similar ways to commas or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may be used:

Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t cross at all. No one could believe it!

Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really enjoyed it.

Brackets have a similar function to dashes. They often add extra, non-essential information:

Thriplow ( pronounced ‘Triplow’ ) is a small village in the eastern part of England.

We use brackets around dates and page numbers in academic writing:

Heaton ( 1978 ) gives a convincing explanation of how hurricanes are formed ( pages 27–32 ) .

We often use forward slashes in internet addresses and to indicate and/or in academic references:

You can find the figures you need on www.bbc.co.uk / finance

Binks (1995/1997) has already researched this aspect of Roman history.

Punctuation: numerals and punctuation

In British English the date is usually given in the order day, month, year.

We use full stops in dates. Forward slashes or dashes are also commonly used:

Date of birth: 1.8.1985 (or 1/8/1985 or 1–8–1985 )

In American English the day and the month are in a different order so that 8 January 1985 is written as follows:

1–8–1985 (or 1/8/1985 or 1.8.1985 )

We don’t usually punctuate weights and measures and references to numbers:

4kg (4 kilograms)10m (10 metres) 5m dollars (5 million dollars)

Commas are used in numbers to indicate units of thousands and millions:

7,980 (seven thousand, nine hundred and eighty)

11,487,562 (eleven million, four hundred and eighty-seven thousand, five hundred and sixty-two)

We use full stops, not commas, to indicate decimal points:

6.5 (six point five)

We can punctuate times with full stops or colons:

The shop opens at 9.30. (or 9:30)

Saying email and internet addresses

When we speak email and web addresses, we say each word separately. To avoid confusion, we sometimes spell out each letter of a word:

[email protected] = Hannah dot reeves at l-i-t dot com

miles_hotel.com/home = miles underscore hotel dot com forward slash home

www.theplace.org = www dot theplace (all one word) dot org

Symbols and typographic conventions

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Lofty ideas, etc. are of a high moral standard.

Trial, judge, and jury: talking about what happens when a criminal is caught

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https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/08/20/gcse-results-day-2024-number-grading-system/

GCSE results day 2024: Everything you need to know including the number grading system

Thousands of students across the country will soon be finding out their GCSE results and thinking about the next steps in their education.   

Here we explain everything you need to know about the big day, from when results day is, to the current 9-1 grading scale, to what your options are if your results aren’t what you’re expecting.  

When is GCSE results day 2024?  

GCSE results day will be taking place on Thursday the 22 August.     

The results will be made available to schools on Wednesday and available to pick up from your school by 8am on Thursday morning.  

Schools will issue their own instructions on how and when to collect your results.   

When did we change to a number grading scale?  

The shift to the numerical grading system was introduced in England in 2017 firstly in English language, English literature, and maths.  

By 2020 all subjects were shifted to number grades. This means anyone with GCSE results from 2017-2020 will have a combination of both letters and numbers.  

The numerical grading system was to signal more challenging GCSEs and to better differentiate between students’ abilities - particularly at higher grades between the A *-C grades. There only used to be 4 grades between A* and C, now with the numerical grading scale there are 6.  

What do the number grades mean?  

The grades are ranked from 1, the lowest, to 9, the highest.  

The grades don’t exactly translate, but the two grading scales meet at three points as illustrated below.  

The bottom of grade 7 is aligned with the bottom of grade A, while the bottom of grade 4 is aligned to the bottom of grade C.    

Meanwhile, the bottom of grade 1 is aligned to the bottom of grade G.  

What to do if your results weren’t what you were expecting?  

If your results weren’t what you were expecting, firstly don’t panic. You have options.  

First things first, speak to your school or college – they could be flexible on entry requirements if you’ve just missed your grades.   

They’ll also be able to give you the best tailored advice on whether re-sitting while studying for your next qualifications is a possibility.   

If you’re really unhappy with your results you can enter to resit all GCSE subjects in summer 2025. You can also take autumn exams in GCSE English language and maths.  

Speak to your sixth form or college to decide when it’s the best time for you to resit a GCSE exam.  

Look for other courses with different grade requirements     

Entry requirements vary depending on the college and course. Ask your school for advice, and call your college or another one in your area to see if there’s a space on a course you’re interested in.    

Consider an apprenticeship    

Apprenticeships combine a practical training job with study too. They’re open to you if you’re 16 or over, living in England, and not in full time education.  

As an apprentice you’ll be a paid employee, have the opportunity to work alongside experienced staff, gain job-specific skills, and get time set aside for training and study related to your role.   

You can find out more about how to apply here .  

Talk to a National Careers Service (NCS) adviser    

The National Career Service is a free resource that can help you with your career planning. Give them a call to discuss potential routes into higher education, further education, or the workplace.   

Whatever your results, if you want to find out more about all your education and training options, as well as get practical advice about your exam results, visit the  National Careers Service page  and Skills for Careers to explore your study and work choices.   

You may also be interested in:

• Results day 2024: What's next after picking up your A level, T level and VTQ results?
• When is results day 2024? GCSEs, A levels, T Levels and VTQs

Tags: GCSE grade equivalent , gcse number grades , GCSE results , gcse results day 2024 , gsce grades old and new , new gcse grades

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