Quotations within Quotations
Almost all of us have found ourselves confused with double and single quotation marks. When do we use single quotes? Where does the punctuation go with single quotes? With just a few rules and examples, you will feel surer about your decisions.
Rule: Use single quotation marks inside double quotation marks when you have a quotation within a quotation.
Example: Bobbi said, “Delia said, ‘This will never work.’”
Notice that what Delia said was enclosed in single quotes. Notice also that the period was placed inside both the single and the double quotation marks. The American rule is that periods always go inside all quotation marks.
Example: Bobbi said, “I read the article, ‘A Poor Woman’s Journey.’”
Rule: Question marks and quotation marks, unlike periods, follow logic with their placement. If a quote inside a quote is a question or exclamation, place the question mark or exclamation mark inside the single quotes.
Examples: Bobbi said, “Delia asked, ‘Will this remote control work on my TV?’”
Bobbi said, “Delia shouted, ‘Get your hands off me!’”
Rule: If the question is inside the double quotes, place the question mark between the single and double quotes.
Examples: Bobbi asked, “Did Delia say, ‘This will never work’?”
(Because you will rarely need an exclamation mark within the double quotes and not within the single quotes, there is little sense discussing this.)
Rule: In the above three examples, only one ending punctuation mark was used with the quotation marks. The rule is that the “stronger” mark wins. Question marks and quotation marks are considered stronger than the period. Period!
February 21, 2007 at 12:17 pm
On the subject of quotation marks, I was taught to use single marks (‘) for quoting text, names, etc. and double marks (“) for spoken words. Have you heard of this? Is it double marks for anything quoted, for instance, a manufacturer’s name on a label, or a product name?
February 26, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Mandy, you were taught incorrectly. Use double quotation marks for text and names unless they are within quoted material already. The other option with names of magazines, manufacturer’s names, products, etc., is to use italics.
March 17, 2007 at 8:21 am
I thought it should read as:
“Didn’t she say,’How did you do that’ ?”
March 17, 2007 at 4:10 pm
By all the comments to this blog, I can see how many people have been taught incorrectly. You don’t need the first set of quotation marks around
Didn’t she say…
because that is not part of the quote. Even if someone had actually said that part of the sentence, the question mark would be placed inside the single quotation mark.
March 29, 2007 at 6:53 am
If I do that, how will the sentence end?
e.g., “Didn’t she say,’how did you do that?’…how do we finish this, with a single’ or “?
Also, the ‘h’; small or capital?
March 30, 2007 at 12:01 am
“Didn’t she say, ‘How did you do that?’”
August 22, 2010 at 9:52 pm
How do you put quotations within quotations within quotations.
Example: “My dad said, ‘Son, don’t pay too much attention to what people ‘think’ as most people don’t'” How do I mark the word “think?”
August 23, 2010 at 10:11 am
“My dad said, ‘Son, don’t pay too much attention to what people “think” as most people don’t.’
OR
My dad said, “Son, don’t pay too much attention to what people ‘think’ as most people don’t.”