Write On January -- Say it in Quotes!

Write On!
By Kellie Underhill

No matter what type of writing you do, you can write better. This month’s tip:

"Say it in quotes!"

When you use another person’s exact words in a news story or characters have a conversation in a novel, you use quotes. Quotation marks are an important part of fiction and non-fiction writing — you need to know how to use them properly.

Consider the following examples:

"We think our request is realistic," said union president, Donald Oates.

If you put something within a set of quotation marks it must be what was said. Donald Oates didn’t say something like this. He didn’t say something a bit different that really meant this. His exact words are contained within the quotes. Most people understand where to enclose a quote by placing quotation marks at the beginning and end, but are less sure about where to put the comma.

"We think our request is realistic" said union president, Donald Oates.

One common mistake is to leave out the comma. The first part of the sentence, or the quote, is a complete sentence on its own. The second part is the attribution showing who said the quote. The comma is necessary to join the two.

"We think our request is realistic", said union president, Donald Oates.

Another common mistake is putting the comma in the wrong place.

"We think our request is realistic," said union president, Donald Oates.

When the quote comes before the attribution, the comma always precedes the closing quote mark.

Union president, Donald Oates said, "We think our request is realistic."

But if the attribution comes first, then the comma always precedes the opening quote mark.

Jonathon said his goal is to find "long-term, sustainable, predictable funding" for the theatre.

While you always capitalise the first word of a direct quotation of a whole sentence, you don’t capitalise the first word of a direct quotation of part of a sentence.

"Without the snow," Michael explained, "the ice on the river melts quickly in the sun."

If a quotation is interrupted by the attribution and then continues, do not capitalise the second part of the quotation.

"I’m not feeling quite like myself today," Carrie blushed. "Do you understand what I’m talking about?"

However, if the quote is broken up into two distinct sentences, you do capitalise the second part of the quotation.

According to a statement, the union thinks their requests are quite reasonable.

When you summarise or paraphrase a quote in your own words, don’t use quotation marks.

The psychologist testified, "When I asked Carrie about the money she said, ‘I’m not feeling quite like myself today.’"

When you use a quote within a quote as in the example above, use double quotation marks for the outer quote and single quotation marks for the inner quote.

There are many rules concerning the proper use of quotations — too many to delve into all of them here — but these basics can help you improve your writing.

Until next month — Write On!