Quotation Mark (“…”)
In English writing, quotation marks are punctuation marks surrounding a quotation, direct speech, or a literal title or name. Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony.
Ø Using in English
·Quotations and Speech
Single or double quotation marks denote either speech or a quotation, but the style of opening and closing quotation marks must be matched. For example:
- 'She brought a red umbrella.' said Hal.
- "She brought a red umbrella." said Hal.
For speech within speech, the other style is used as inner quotation marks:
- 'Hal said, "She brought a red umbrella."' recalled Frank.
- "Hal said, 'She brought a red umbrella.'" recalled Frank.
·Irony
Another common use of quotation marks is to indicate or call attention to ironic or apologetic words:
- He shared his "wisdom" with me.
- The lunch lady plopped a glob of "food" onto my tray.
·Titles of Artistic Works
Quotation marks, rather than italics, are generally used for the titles of shorter works. Whether these are single or double depends on the context; however, many styles, especially for poetry, prefer the use of single quotation marks. For example:
- Short fiction, poetry, etc.: Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”
- Book chapters: The first chapter of The Final Odyssey is "Comet Cowboy"
- Articles in books, magazines, journals, etc.: "Extra-Terrestrial Relays", Wireless World, October 1945
- Album tracks, singles, etc.: Westlife's "My Love"
Sources:
Cooper, T., Fallas, J., & Flaherty, F. (2011). English Style Guide: Seventh edition. European Commission.
Englishclub.com. (2013). Punctuation. Retrieved from http://www.englishclub.com/writing/punctuation.htm.
Phythian, B. A. (2012). Correct English: Pedoman Belajar Bahasa Inggris. Jakarta : PT. Indeks.
Wikipedia. (2013). Punctuation. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Punctuation.