using quotation marks in creative writing

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How to Use Quotation Marks

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Using Quotation Marks

The primary function of quotation marks is to set off and represent exact language (either spoken or written) that has come from somebody else. The quotation mark is also used to designate speech acts in fiction and sometimes poetry. Since you will most often use them when working with outside sources, successful use of quotation marks is a practical defense against accidental plagiarism and an excellent practice in academic honesty. The following rules of quotation mark use are the standard in the United States, although it may be of interest that usage rules for this punctuation do vary in other countries.

The following covers the basic use of quotation marks. For details and exceptions consult the separate sections of this guide.

Direct Quotations

Direct quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing.

• Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to close it at the end of the quoted material.

Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."

Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.

"I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had."

When quoting text with a spelling or grammar error, you should transcribe the error exactly in your own text. However, also insert the term sic in italics directly after the mistake, and enclose it in brackets. Sic is from the Latin, and translates to "thus," "so," or "just as that." The word tells the reader that your quote is an exact reproduction of what you found, and the error is not your own.

Mr. Johnson says of the experience, "It's made me reconsider the existence of extraterestials [ sic ]."

• Quotations are most effective if you use them sparingly and keep them relatively short. Too many quotations in a research paper will get you accused of not producing original thought or material (they may also bore a reader who wants to know primarily what YOU have to say on the subject).

Indirect Quotations

Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. In this case, it is not necessary to use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and you will be committing plagiarism if you fail to do so.

Many writers struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Use the following tips to guide you in your choice.

Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable. Do not rob such language of its power by altering it.

The above should never stand in for:

Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you merely need to summarize key incidents or details of the text.

Use direct quotations when the author you are quoting has coined a term unique to her or his research and relevant within your own paper.

When to use direct quotes versus indirect quotes is ultimately a choice you'll learn a feeling for with experience. However, always try to have a sense for why you've chosen your quote. In other words, never put quotes in your paper simply because your teacher says, "You must use quotes."

The Editor’s Manual

Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.

• Punctuation |
• Quotation marks

Four Uses of Quotation Marks

Place quotation marks (or inverted commas) around direct speech or a quotation. Quotes may also enclose a word or a phrase used ironically or in some special sense other than its usual meaning. Also use quotes to enclose words used as themselves instead of functionally in a sentence. Quotation marks set off titles of shorter works that appear within a larger work (e.g., the title of a chapter, article, or poem).

Direct speech and quoted text

Use quotation marks (also known as inverted commas or quotes) to enclose the exact words of another person’s speech or text . Quotation marks always appear in pairs: use an opening quotation mark to indicate the start of quoted text and a closing quotation mark to indicate its end.

• Maya said, “We need more time.”
• Dash replied, “You always have a choice.”
• Nemo predicts that the travel sector will grow by 20% this year. “We are already seeing overcrowded airports and full occupancy at hotels.”
• “Where were you?” “At the park.”
• “Stop!” he cried.
• “I’m going to bake a cake,” said Lulu.
• “Are you still there?” she typed.
• She felt “a sudden, sharp pain” in her side.
• A witness described it as “the loudest bang” and said she thought “the world was ending.”

Prefer to use smart or curly quotes over straight quotes in formal writing. Smart quotes are directional: the opening and closing quotation marks look different from each other, curving inward towards the quotation instead of being identical and unidirectional (“. . . ” instead of ". . . "). The HTML character codes for smart quotes are “ and ” with Unicode values “ and ” . Microsoft Word has a checkbox you can select to make sure your documents display smart instead of straight quotes.

Commas surrounding a quotation

Use a comma after verbs like said , wrote , replied , and asked when they introduce a quote that is a complete sentence .

• Maya said, “I hope the train is on time.”
• Farley asked, “Do you sell pumpkins?”
• In a diary entry she wrote, “I now know why I’m here.”
• Lulu replied, “None of them has the answer.”

The explanatory text may appear after the quote, in which case the quote ends in a comma .

• “I hope the train is on time,” said Maya.
• “I now know why I’m here,” she wrote.
• “ None of them has the answer,” replied Lulu.

If the quote ends in a question mark or exclamation point , don’t use a comma.

• “Where have all the bees gone?” he asked.
• “Run!” she cried.
• “And then he was gone!” she wrote.
• He asked, “Where are all the butterflies?”

If the explanatory text divides the quote into two parts, use commas both before and after.

• “None of them,” she said, “has the answer.”

Don’t use commas if the quote appears in the flow of the surrounding sentence and cannot stand by itself as a complete sentence.

• They call it “the song of the birds.”
• She said it sent “a shiver right through her toes” to see him on TV.

Running quotations

Running quotations are those that span paragraphs. If a quote starts in one paragraph and continues into another, place an opening quotation mark at the start of each paragraph but a closing quotation mark only at the end of the final one. This indicates to the reader that it’s the same speaker or writer across paragraphs, whose quotation ends only at the end of the final paragraph.

• Dash said: “Paragraph 1. “Paragraph 2. “Paragraph 3. “Final paragraph.”
• She replied, “I don’t have any money. “I never have any money . Any money I have, I spend it. You know that.”

Scare quotes

Enclose a word or a phrase in quotation marks or “ scare quotes ” to indicate that it is being used ironically or in a nonstandard way (conveying a meaning other than the usual).

• She said she was going to “call the doctor.”
• That was some “meeting.” All he did was yell.
• She said she likes “classical” literature and then quoted Dan Brown.

Be careful not to overuse scare quotes. In particular, don’t enclose a word or a phrase in quotes simply to emphasize it (use formatting options like italic instead).

Don’t enclose standard idioms or slang in scare quotes.

• Incorrect: It’s time we gave him “a taste of his own medicine.” “A taste of someone’s own medicine” is a standard idiom in English with a defined meaning. Correct: It’s time we gave him a taste of his own medicine.

Words as words

To refer to a word or a term as itself in a sentence rather than using it functionally, you can enclose it in quotation marks.

• “I” and “ me ” are both pronouns. The words “I” and “me” are not used functionally as pronouns , but are referred to as themselves, which is why they are enclosed in quotation marks.
• I used to think the word “bell” was onomatopoeic.
• How do you spell “onomatopoeic”?

Italics are preferred over quotation marks in formal writing to refer to a term (a letter, word, or phrase ) used as itself in a sentence. Use quotes instead if doing so helps improve readability or clarity, or in media where italics are not easily available (chat messages, posts on social media such as tweets).

• There’s no “I” in “team.” There’s no “J” either.
• Sartre speaks of en soi , or “being-in-itself,” which is the self-contained existence of objects.

Titles of works

Titles of larger works are generally italicized (such as names of books, movies, journals, and magazines), but titles of shorter works that appear within a larger work are enclosed in quotation marks. For example, the title of a short story that appears within an anthology is enclosed in quotes, while the title of the larger anthology itself is italicized. Similarly, the title of a song is enclosed in quotation marks, while the name of a music album is italicized. Titles of articles are enclosed in quotation marks, while names of periodicals are italicized.

• Her short story, “Cat Person,” was published in the New Yorker in 2017.
• “Fade into You” is probably their most famous song.
• Refer to Chapter 4, “Why Humans Talk.”

Titles of larger works (like names of books and movies) may also be enclosed in quotation marks in media where the use of italics is uncommon or impossible (e.g., chat messages, social media).

• Did you know “The Silence” is a remake of a 1963 film?
• One of his books that affected me deeply as a child is “Insomnia.”

Capitalization

Capitalize a quote that is a full sentence introduced by verbs like said and wrote or phrases like as she said or according to .

• As Dash once said, “There is no life without hope.”
• She wrote, “There is no life without hope. To live is to hope.”
• According to Dash, “There is no life without hope.”
• Minerva replied, “My childhood was a time full of hope.”

Don’t capitalize a quotation that appears within the flow of a larger sentence.

• She once said that “ there is no life without hope.”
• She described her childhood as “ a time full of hope.”

Don’t capitalize the second part of a quote that is interrupted by an explanatory phrase.

• “My childhood,” she said, “ was a time full of hope.”

A quotation of one or more full sentences may also be introduced using a colon in formal text. It is then capitalized .

• Dash said: “There is no life without hope. To live is to hope.”

Quotes within quotes: Single and double quotes

Use single within double quotes to show quotes within quotes —to enclose in quotes a word or a phrase that appears within material already enclosed in quotation marks.

• Leonard’s latest article, “Bacteria and Fungi Can ‘Walk’ across the Surface of Our Teeth,” may make you want to rinse your mouth out every five minutes.

In British academic and creative writing, single quotes are the default , with double quotes reserved for quotes within quotes, as recommended by the New Oxford Style Manual (the style manual of the Oxford University Press). In British news copy however, double quotes are generally the default, as in American style.

Most U.S. style guides , like the Chicago Manual of Style , APA Publication Manual , AP Stylebook , and MLA Handbook , recommend enclosing quotations in double quotes, with single quotation marks reserved for quotes within quotes.

Periods and commas with quotation marks

In American writing, periods and commas always appear inside closing quotation marks .

• “My mother,” she said, “could get quite angry.”
• Use “I,” not “me,” as the subject of a sentence.
• We decimate our forests, pollute our waters, poison our air, and call it “progress.”
• I’m sure Poco, the “expert,” will be happy to advise us.

In British writing, a period or a comma precedes a closing quotation mark only if it part of the quoted text. If it is meant to punctuate the surrounding sentence instead, the comma appears after the closing quotation mark.

• ‘My mother’, she said, ‘could get quite angry.’ The commas punctuate the larger sentence and appear outside quotes. The period ends the quotation and therefore appears inside. Don’t use another period to end the sentence. Also note the use of single instead of double quotation marks in British style.
• Use ‘I’, not ‘me’, as the subject of a sentence.
• We cut down trees, pollute our waters, poison our air, and call it ‘progress’.
• I’m sure Poco, the ‘expert’, will be happy to advise us.

Other punctuation with quotation marks

Other punctuation marks, like question marks and exclamation points, precede a closing quotation mark if they belong to the quoted content. If they belong to the surrounding sentence, they appear after the closing quotation mark.

• She asked, “Where were you?”
• He cried, “It can’t be!”
• Did he just say, “I don’t want your money”?
• What do you mean by the word “truth”?
• She calls it “truth”!

Share this article

Use a comma after verbs like said when they introduce a quote that is a complete sentence.

Don’t use a comma before quoted text that is not a full sentence but appears in the flow of a larger sentence.

Capitalize a quote that is a complete sentence.

Don’t unnecessarily capitalize quoted text that is not a full sentence.

Enclose titles of shorter works (like poems) in quotation marks.

In U.S. style, double quotation marks are the primary choice, with single quotation reserved for quotes within quotes.

Periods always go inside closing quotation marks in American writing.

Using Quotation Marks

The rules for using quotation marks.

Table of Contents

Four Ways to Use Quotation Marks

Using quotation marks explained in detail, (1) using quotation marks for previously spoken or written words, (2) using quotation marks for the names of ships, books, and plays, (3) using quotation marks to signify so-called or alleged, (4) using quotation marks to show a word refers to the word itself, why quotation marks are important.

(1) To identify previously spoken or written words.

(2) To highlight the name of things like ships, books, and plays.

(3) To signify so-called or alleged.

(4) To show that a word refers to the word itself not the word's meaning.

(Issue 1) Being inconsistent with single or double quotation marks.

(Issue 2) Using quotation marks with reported speech

(issue 3) being unsure whether to use a comma or a colon before a quotation..

(Rule 1) Use a colon if the introduction is an independent clause.

• New York gang members all advise the following: "Don't run from fat cops. They shoot earlier."

(Rule 2) You can use a colon if the quotation is a complete sentence.

• The orders state: "In case of fire, exit the building before tweeting about it."

(Rule 3) Use a comma if the introduction is not an independent clause.

• Before each shot, the keeper said aloud, "bum, belly, beak, bang."
• Peering over his glasses, he said, "Never test the depth of a river with both feet."

(Rule 4) You can only use a comma after a quotation.

• "Always give 100%, unless you're donating blood", he would always say.

(Rule 5) Don't use any punctuation if the quotation is not introduced.

• I believe there really is, "no place like home."
• I would hate to see the worst if this is the, "best skiing resort in France".

(Issue 4) Being unsure whether to place punctuation inside or outside the quotation.

(Issue 5) Using quotation marks for emphasis.

• Nest single quotation marks within doubles.
• The instructions say: "Shout 'Yahtzee' loudly."
• Don't put reported speech in quotation marks.

Two Points about Editing Quotations

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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Marking Text—Choosing Between Italics and Quotation Marks

An error in the use of italics or quotation marks—using one rather than the other or not using either when their use is required—is not likely a problem that will have an agent or publisher turning down your manuscript, especially if your manuscript isn’t bulging with other errors. Yet knowing when to use both italics and quotation marks is useful and important for writers. The cleaner the manuscript, the fewer problems it will be perceived to have. And when rules are followed, the manuscript will have consistency; if you don’t know the rules, it’s likely that you won’t make the same choices consistently throughout a story. And if you self-publish, when you’re the one doing the editing, you’ll definitely want to know how and when to use both italics and quotation marks and know how to choose between them.

To start off, I will point out that there is no need to underline anything in a novel manuscript . Writers used to underline text where they intended italics, but because it’s now so easy to see and find and identify italics, underlining is no longer necessary, not for fiction manuscripts.

Note: Underlining may be required for school or college writing projects or other purposes. I’m strictly addressing fiction manuscripts here.

Without underlining, the choices are italics, quotation marks, and unmarked or plain text.

Let’s start with the last option—plain text—first.

________________________

Not all text that seems to require italics or quotation marks actually does. Most words in your manuscript will be roman text—unchanged by italics—and, apart from dialogue, will not be enclosed by quotation marks. Yet sometimes writers are confused about italics and quotation marks, especially when dealing with named entities. A quick rule: Simple names need only be capitalized—no other marks are necessary.

This is one writing question that’s easy to overthink once you begin editing, but a name usually only needs to be capitalized; it typically doesn’t require italics or quotation marks. (There are exceptions, of course.)

Capitalize names of people, places, and things . This means that Bob, Mr. Smith, Grandma Elliott, and Fido are capitalized but not italicized or put in quotation marks. The same is true for Disney World, the Grand Canyon, Edie’s Bistro, and the World Series. When a person’s title is paired with a name—Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Reverend Thomas—both name and title are capitalized. But when a title is not used as a name—the president is young, the pastor can sing—no capitalization is required.

Nouns are typically the words that you’ll capitalize, but not all nouns are capitalized. Capitalize named nouns . So Fido is capitalized, but dog is not; Aunt Margaret (used as a name) is capitalized, but my aunt is not; my aunt Margaret gets a mix of capitalization.

Brand names and trademarks are typically capitalized, but some have unusual capitalizations (iPad, eBay, TaylorMade, adidas). Refer to dictionaries and to company guidelines or Internet sources for correct capitalization and spelling. Note that home pages of websites may feature decorative text; look at pages with corporate details for correct information.

You may make a style decision and capitalize such words according to established rules, and that would be a valid decision. Yet a name is a name, and spelling or capitalizing it the way its creators intended may well be the better choice.

That’s it for most named people or things or places—most are capitalized but do not require italics or quotation marks. A quick rule:  Names  (of people, places, and things) need to be capitalized, but titles  (of things) need both capitalization and either quotation marks or italics.

Items in the following categories need neither italics nor quotation marks (unless italics or quotation marks are an intrinsic part of the title). This is only a very short list, but most named nouns are treated similarly.

car manufacturers General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota car brands or divisions: Buick, Chevrolet car names: Riviera, Touareg, Camry restaurants: Chili’s, Sally’s Place, Chuck’s Rib House scriptures and revered religious books: the Bible, Koran, the Book of Common Prayer books of the Bible: Genesis, Acts, the Gospel according to Matthew wars and battles: Korean War, Russian Revolution, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Hastings companies: Coca-Cola, Amazon, Barclays, Nokia product names: Coke, Kleenex, Oreo shops: Dolly’s Delights, Macy’s, Coffee House museums, schools and colleges: the High Museum, the Hermitage, Orchard Elementary School, the University of Notre Dame houses of worship: First Baptist Church of Abbieville, the Cathedral of St. Philip, Temple Sinai, City Center Community Masjid Note : There is much more to capitalization, yet that topic requires an article (or five) of its own. Look for such an article in the future.  The Chicago Manual of Style has an in-depth chapter on capitalization; I recommend you search it for specifics.

Quotation Marks and Italics

Beyond capitalization, some  nouns are also distinguished by italics or quotation marks. Think in terms of titles here, but typically titles of things and not people.

So we’re talking book, movie, song, and TV show titles; titles of newspapers and magazines and titles of articles in those newspapers and magazines; titles of artwork and poems.

One odd category included here is vehicles.  Not brand names of vehicles but names of individual craft: spaceships, airships, ships, and trains.

But which titles get quotation marks and which get italics?

The general rule is that titles of works that are made up of smaller/shorter divisions are italicized, and the smaller divisions are put in quotation marks . This means a book title is italicized, and chapter titles (but not chapter numbers) are in quotation marks. A TV show title is italicized, but episode titles are in quotation marks. An album or CD title is put in italics, but the song titles are in quotation marks.

Note :  This rule for chapter titles in books is not referring to chapter titles of a manuscript itself, which are not put in quotation marks within the manuscript . Use quotation marks in your text if a character or narrator is thinking about or speaking a chapter title, not for your own chapter titles.

Quotation marks and italics are both also used for other purposes in fiction. For example, we typically use italics when we use a word as a word.

My stylist always says rebound when he means rebond .

I counted only half a dozen um s in the chairman’s speech. (Note that the s making um plural is not italicized.)

Since a list is quick and easy to read, let’s simply list categories for both italics and quotation marks.

Barring exceptions, items from the categories should be italicized or put in quotation marks, as indicated, in your stories.

Use Italics For

Titles : Titles of specific types of works are italicized. This is true for both narration and dialogue.

books TV shows radio shows movies plays operas and ballets long poems long musical pieces (such as symphonies) newspapers magazines journals works of art (paintings, sculptures, photographs) pamphlets reports podcasts blogs (but not websites in general, which are only capitalized)

Odds and Ends: Titles of cartoons and comic strips ( Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Pearls Before Swine ) are italicized. Exhibitions at small venues (such as a museum) are italicized ( BODIES . . . The Exhibition ) but fairs and other major exhibitions (the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition) are only capitalized.

Examples : To Kill a Mockingbird (book), Citizen Kane (movie), A Prairie Home Companion (radio show), La bohème  (opera), Paradise Lost (long poem), Rhapsody in Blue (long musical piece),  Washington Post (newspaper), Car and Driver (magazine), Starry Night (painting), The Age of Reason (pamphlet), This American Life (podcast), The Editor’s Blog (blog)

Exception : Generic titles of musical works are not italicized. This includes those named by number (op. 3 or no. 5) or by key (Nocturne in B Major) and those simply named for the musical form (Requiem or Overture). If names and generic titles are combined, italicize only the name, not the generic title.

Exception : Titles of artwork dating from antiquity whose creators are unknown are not italicized. (the Venus de Milo or the Seated Scribe)

Ship names :  names of ships on water, in space, in the air

Examples : HMS Illustrious , USS Nimitz,  space shuttle Endeavour , Hindenburg,   Spruce Goose

Notes: 1. The abbreviations for Her Majesty’s ship (HMS) and United States ship (USS) are not italicized.

2. The current recommendation of The Chicago Manual of Style is to not italicize train names. CMOS may be differentiating between physical ships with individual names and railroad route names, which is typically what is named when we think of trains; the specific grouping of train cars may not be named and may actually change from one trip to another. Locomotives, however, may have names. If they do, you would be safe to italicize that name.

While I understand this reasoning, I see no problem with italicizing a train’s (or a train route’s) commonly known name— Trans-Siberian Express , Royal Scotsman , California Zephyr —as writers have done in the past. This is strictly a personal opinion.

3. The definite article is unnecessary with ship names—they are names and not titles. So Yorktown rather than the Yorktown . It’s likely that characters with military backgrounds would follow this rule, but many civilians may not. If your character would say the Yorktown , then include the article.

Words as words:  As already noted, words used as words are usually italicized. This helps forestall confusion when these words are not used in the usual manner.

Examples : The word haberdashery has gone out of style.

Edith wasn’t sure what lugubrious meant, but it sounded slimy to her.

Letters as letters : Letters referred to as letters are italicized.

Examples : The i in my name is silent.

On the faded treasure map, an X actually did mark the spot.

All the men in his hometown have at least three s’ s in their names.

Notes: 1. Only the letter itself is italicized for plurals. So we have  s ’s, capital L s, and a dozen m’ s. (The apostrophe and concluding s are not italicized.)

2. An apostrophe is used for the plurals (lowercase letters only) to prevent confusion or the misreading of letters as words; a’ s rather than  a s and  i’ s rather than i s.

3. Familiar phrases including p’s and q’s and dot your i’s and cross your t’s do not require italics. (They are italicized here because I’m using them as words, not for their meaning.)

4. Letters for school grades are not italicized, though they are capitalized.

Sound words : Italicize words that stand in for sounds or reproduce sounds that characters and readers hear.

Examples : The whomp-whomp of helicopter blades drowned out her frail voice.

An annoying bzzz woke him.

C-r-rack ! Something heavy—some one  heavy—fell through the rotted floorboards.

Foreign words : Uncommon or unfamiliar foreign words are italicized the first time they are used in a story. After that, roman type is sufficient. Foreign-language words familiar to most readers do not need italics. Proper names and places in foreign languages are never italicized.

Examples : The words amigo , mucho ,  coup d’état, risqué, nyet, and others like them are common enough that you wouldn’t need to italicize them in fiction. (I italicized them because in my example they are words used as words.)

“Use caution, my dear. That pretty flower you like so much is velenoso. It slows the heart.”

It was something my grandmother always said to me.  Sie sind mein kostbares kleines Mädchen .

Building sites on the Potsdamer Platz went for a lot of money once the Berlin Wall came down.

Emphasis : Use italics to emphasize a word or part of a word. Yet don’t overdo. A character who emphasizes words all the time may sound odd. And the italics may annoy your readers.

Examples : I wanted a new dress, but I needed new shoes.

She quickly said, “It’s not what you think.”

“Sal invited everyone to the party at his uncle’s beach house. And I mean every single student  from his school.”

Something—some one —shattered all the street lights.

Character thoughts : Character thoughts can be expressed in multiple ways; italics is one of those ways. (But it isn’t the only way and may not be the best way. See “ How to Punctuate Character Thoughts ” for details.)

Example : I expected more from her , he thought. But he shouldn’t have.

You can find many more tips and suggestions for cleaning up your text in The Magic of Fiction .

Use Quotation Marks For

Titles :  As is done with titles and italics, titles of specific types of works are put inside quotation marks. This is true for both narration and dialogue.

book chapters (named, not numbered, chapters) TV show episodes radio show episodes songs short stories short poems (most poems) newspaper, magazine, and journal articles blog articles podcast episodes unpublished works (dissertations, manuscripts in collections)

Odds and Ends: Signs (and other notices) are typically not put in quotation marks or italicized, though they are capitalized—The back lot was marked with No Parking signs. They don’t even require hyphens for compounds—The gardener was putting up Do Not Walk on the Grass signs. However, long signs (think sentence length or longer)  are  put in quotation marks and not capitalized. Consider them as quotations—Did you see the handwritten sign? “Take your shoes off, line them up at the door, and walk without speaking to the second door on the left.”

The same rule applies for mottoes and maxims . An example: To Protect and Serve was the department’s old motto. Now it’s “Cover your tracks, lie if you get caught, blame your behavior on drugs, and vilify the victim.”

Examples : They read through “The Laurence Boy” in one sitting. (chapter three of Little Women )

He said he thought it was “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies.” (an episode of Friends )

My mother suggested we both read “The Gift of the Magi.” (short story)

“ The Princess Bride—Storytelling Done Right ” was written in two hours. (blog article)

Exception : Titles of regular columns in newspapers and magazines are not put in quotation marks (Dear Abby, At Wit’s End).

Dialogue : Enclose the spoken words of direct dialogue (not the dialogue tags or action beats) between opening and closing quotation marks. Do not use quotation marks for indirect dialogue.

Exception : When dialogue continues into a new paragraph, do not include a closing quotation mark at the end of the first paragraph; use the closing quotation mark only at the end of the spoken words. (If dialogue continues uninterrupted for several paragraphs, you will have a number of opening quotation marks but only one closing quotation mark.)

Examples : “I told you I loved you. You never believed me.”

“I told you I was there,” he said. But I never believed him.

“He tried,” I said, waving my fingers, “but he failed.”

“My dog ate the first page”—Billy pointed at Dexter Blue—“but I saved the rest.”

Exception Example : “I needed to do it, but I just couldn’t. And then you know what happened—Bing threw his knife and I ducked and he hit the minister’s wife. And then pandemonium broke out, everyone running every which way. It was madness.

“And after that, we raced out before the cops could get there.”

Notes: 1. American English (AmE) always uses double quotation marks for dialogue. If you have a quotation within dialogue, the inner quotation gets single quotation marks.

2. British English (BrE) allows for either single or double quotation marks, with the reverse for quotes inside other quotes or dialogue.

Words used in a nonstandard manner or as sarcasm, irony, or mockery : Use quotation marks to point out irony or words used in an unusual way, perhaps as slang or mockery. Most slang wouldn’t need to be put in quotation marks, but words unfamiliar to a character could be put in quotation marks. Always use double quotation marks for AmE and typically use singles for BrE (doubles are acceptable).

Example : Yeah, I guess he was on time. If three hours late is “on time” in his book.

Andy said his brother “skived off” two days this week. I didn’t tell him I had to check the Internet to figure out what he meant.

Made-up words or new words : Use quotation marks for the first use of made-up words. After that, no special punctuation is necessary.

Example : He’s a “rattlescallion,” a cross between a rapscallion and a snake.

Words as words : We often use italics for words used as words, but we can also use quotation marks.

Example: He used “I” all the time, as if his opinion carried more weight than anyone else’s.

 ________________________

When you’re deciding between italics and quotation marks, always remember the rules of clarity and consistency: make it clear for the reader and be consistent throughout the story. If you have to make a choice that doesn’t fit a rule or you choose to flout a rule, do so on purpose and do so each time the circumstances are the same. Include unusual words or special treatment of words in your style sheet  so everyone dealing with your manuscript works from the same foundation.

Rewrite any wording that is likely to confuse the reader or that can be read multiple ways. There’s always a way to clear up confusing phrasing, often more than one way. Reduce distracting punctuation and italics when you can, but use both quotation marks and italics when necessary.

Put writing rules to work for your stories.

This article is a long one, but I hope it proves useful. Let me know if I omitted a category you wondered about.

Related posts:

• Single Quotation Marks—A Reader’s Question
• Quotes Within Quotes
• Capitalizing on the Holidays—A Reader’s Question

Tags: capitalization , italics , quotation marks     Posted in: Grammar & Punctuation

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[…] In addition to dialogue, we use quotation marks for titles of many kinds, including songs, TV episodes, and newspaper and magazine articles. For the full list of titles we put in quotation marks, see Marking Text: Choosing Between Italics and Quotation Marks. […]

[…] Reblogged from The Editor’s Blog […]

[…] I knew there were some formatting issues in the text, such as how to show, inner thoughts, texts, quotes from other people, quotes from films or books, labels, signs, looks etc and I did some research to get some guidance. This link provided a lot of help.  https://theeditorsblog.net/2014/05/12/marking-text-choosing-between-italics-and-quotation-marks/ […]

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Writing Tips: How Writers Can Use Punctuation To Great Effect

posted on March 23, 2018

Commas are my personal nemesis. Those tiny little marks on a page can completely change the sense of a sentence, as per the fantastic book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. 

But how do we make the most of punctuation?  Rachel Stout from New York Book Editors explains in today's article.

When it comes to grammar and the correct way to do things, I worry more about punctuation than anything else when writing.

Other rules — splitting infinitives, knowing the difference between further and farther or when to use the active voice versus passive — don’t weigh as heavily on my mind. I can just look those up quickly and move on, comfortable with what I’ve written.

But punctuation is not as easily referenced. In a grammar book or online, how do I describe my various clauses and intended meaning so that punctuation can correctly be assessed?

Most of my time is spent evaluating or editing manuscripts, so I can tell you that punctuation rules are some of the most commonly ignored rules in writing.

Either writers admit to me up front that they have no idea whether or not they’ve used way too many commas (answer: yes), improperly used quotation marks (answer: maybe, let me see) or used too few semicolons (answer: almost certainly no).

Understanding how and when to use common punctuation marks (meaning I’m not really interested in discussing interrobangs at the moment, or ever) will not only make you a more sophisticated and practiced writer, but it will give you the ultimate tool: knowing how and when to break those rules and use punctuation to imply feeling and tone in a way that mere word choice cannot.

Breaking punctuation rules is only effective if you’re breaking the rule on purpose.

The words, the flow, the insinuation of pause and of inflection becomes apparent in this case, and instead of mumbo jumbo, the result is something more like Molly Bloom’s “yes I said yes I will Yes,” which closes out an entire punctuation-less chapter that is full of feeling, emotion, swirling thoughts and contradictions, ending on this note of pure bliss at the close of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

“yes I said yes I will Yes” is famous not because the words chosen are anything special, but because no matter whether you’re familiar with the rest of the story, that final paragraph stirs something inside of you when you read it.

The rush of feeling, of teetering on the edge of choice and love and passion and self-doubt is so familiar, so utterly human that it’s palpable without explanation. The careful non-use of punctuation causes the reader to go ever faster, flying through the words, which again themselves aren’t of utmost importance here.

It’s the flying, the racing, the rush of getting everything in because there are no periods or commas to indicate a stop or a pause, nothing to slow the reader down or to shift course. The words themselves are chosen purposefully to accompany the punctuation (or lack thereof), making its use the most important thing in the passage.

How to get there, though? We know that punctuation can change the literal meaning of a sentence. Too many serial comma debates have ended with someone laying down the trump card stating the irrefutable difference between “I love my parents, Beyoncé, and Benedict Cumberbatch” and “I love my parents, Beyoncé and Benedict Cumberbatch” to deny that.

Cormac McCarthy, for example, has been quoted as saying, “I believe in periods, capitals, in the occasional comma, and that’s it,” and anyone who's read anything of McCarthy’s knows how much effect the starkness of the words and sparseness of punctuation adds to the depth and breadth of his work.

Where in Joyce’s chapter, the lack of punctuation results in a huge rush of intense emotion, McCarthy’s novels are quieter, though still deep in feeling. Neither author could have achieved that if they were writing without knowledge of the rules of punctuation. They were successful because they wrote in spite of them.

The first thing to note when using punctuation creatively is that there are still limitations . Not all punctuation marks can be played around with. You’ll have the best results with commas, periods, quotation marks and dashes.

Semicolons, however, don’t have the same elasticity. Colons and parentheses can be hugely effective when used intentionally, but my advice is to use them sparingly. They cause such an interruption in reading that the pause or aside should be worth it. The aside an em-dash indicates is usually not as drastic as it fits better within the flow of the sentence.

Let’s get the basics of each mark down so we can figure out how to manipulate them. When I say basics, I truly mean basics because of course pages can be written about each, but for our purposes, the basic rules will suffice.

First up, the one with the most rules, even at the basic level: the comma.

Comma Rules and Uses

Separating items in a series.

Commas are used to separate items in a series of three or more nouns or two or more coordinate adjectives. Whether or not you decide to use the serial, or Oxford, comma before the final “and” or “or” in the list is up to you.

• Example (Nouns): I went to the store and bought apples, bananas, bread and milk.
• Example (Coordinate adjectives): The bright, shining sun was warm that day.

(Note: Adjectives are coordinate if you can change their order and the meaning remains the same. If you cannot, they are not coordinate and should not be separated by commas)

Surrounding nonessential appositives

An appositive is the word or phrase that describes or adds additional information about a noun in the sentence. Only nonessential appositives are surrounded by commas. An essential appositive is a word or phrase that if removed, changes the meaning of the sentence. Essential appositives are not offset with commas. If the appositive only adds to the sentence, but does not affect its meaning, then commas are used.

• Example (Essential): Fleetwood Mac’s song Landslide has been covered by many other artists.

Here, “Landslide” is the appositive, but without it, the sentence would not have the same meaning, so we don’t use commas.

• Example (Nonessential): The house where I grew up, a blue bungalow with red shutters, has been repainted.

Here, “a blue bungalow with red shutters” is the appositive and without it, the sentence would retain its meaning: “The house where I grew up has been repainted.” This is why the appositive is offset with commas.

Before a coordinating conjunction

There are many sub-rules here, but at the most basic level, when you are connecting two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, you should use a comma. An independent clause is a portion of a sentence that could stand on its own and a coordinating conjunction is one of the following: and, nor, for, but, so, or, yet.

• Example: I hate eating apples, but I love eating apple pie.

After an introductory phrase

Usually, an adverbial phrase, the part of the sentence that sets up or introduces its subject and verb is the introductory phrase. (Hint: I started the previous sentence with an introductory phrase offset by a comma!) Sometimes a comma is not used, especially if the introductory phrase is made up of three words or less. (Hint: I did not offset the introductory word in that sentence, and it is grammatically okay).

• Example: After seeing the movie, we all went out for ice cream.

Breaking the Rules

So we know James Joyce doesn’t always love commas, and Cormac McCarthy certainly isn’t a fan. Gertrude Stein didn’t use them much, either, and she did okay for herself.

The most effective thing a comma does in a sentence is to create a pause. It’s a visual breathing mark or break in a sentence that can either go unnoticed or stand out.

Adding a comma where one might not necessarily be required should be an intentional choice—a moment where you are asking the reader to stop, sit up and notice. Maybe you want to call attention to the first part of a sentence or you want to make them pause awkwardly to show awkwardness in a scene.

Maybe you want to not use commas at all in dialogue to indicate a lilted accent or rushed way or speaking, or a child who doesn’t yet have a grasp on his or her own cadence, but you’ll have correct comma usage throughout all narrative portions of the text.

The best hint here? Read your work aloud as it is written, and then read it aloud as you intend it to sound. Are they different? If so, add or subtract the commas—the pauses, the emphases—where desired.

Period Rules and Uses

Ending a declarative sentence: This one doesn’t need too much explaining (I hope!). A period goes at the end of a sentence to indicate, well, its end, unless the sentence is a question or exclamation.

That’s pretty much the only hard and fast rule to using a period, which makes it a much simpler mark than the comma we just barreled through, but there is sometimes confusion as to where a period should be placed in conjunction with other punctuation marks, so here’s a quick overview:

With quotation marks: In American English, the period always goes inside the closing quotation marks. In British English, the period goes outside. After an abbreviation: If you’ve ended a sentence with an abbreviation, like “etc.,” there is no need to add a second period. With parentheses: If the parenthetical statement is its own independent clause placed in between two other full sentences, then the full sentence, including its period, goes inside the parentheses. If the statement is included in the middle of or at the end of another independent clause, the period goes at the end of the non-parenthetical statement and thus, outside of the parentheses.

• Example: I’m good at grammar. (At least I think I am.) A more accurate statement might be: I’m getting the hang of it.
• Example: I’m a grammar pro (and I don’t give myself enough credit).

Because the period is universally simple, it’s difficult to misuse! However, I like to think about the British term for a period when thinking about how best to use it to enhance my writing: the full stop.

Where a comma is a pause, a period is a full stop. Short, fragmented writing, where each phrase, independent clause or not, is separated by a period can indicate so many things. Depression, stilted thinking, disbelief, the inability to comprehend, shock—the list goes on.

Think about any moment in life where you’ve been so overcome by emotion or new information that it’s near impossible to form a complete thought. Using periods to end a sentence fragment, to bring it to a “full stop,” can indicate that numbness or that inability to process.

Of course, the opposite usage is the run-on sentence. Run-on sentences are tricky because so often they are written without intent, but used intentionally, they can indicate a different side of emotional overwhelm .

Instead of being at a loss for words, or indicating a full stop, run-on sentences indicate a racing mind, a fast-paced scene, or a glut of activity and conversation.

Here, our friend the comma comes back into play. Using a comma splice, which is to say using a comma instead of a period, should be done sparingly. If used intentionally and in the right tone, a comma splice can carry the tone of a passage.

See how clearly the image and voice of Holden Caufield becomes through this run-on sentence full of comma splices from J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

You can just see the teenager pretending to be apathetic about lame (and probably phony) things like caring about personal history and family.

Quotation Mark Rules and Uses

To show dialogue: The placement of punctuation inside and outside of quotation marks and whether or not to use single or double quotes vacillates between British and American English as well as between scholars in each school, so I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty here. What you do need to know, is that the most common use of quotation marks in fiction is to indicate dialogue, or someone speaking.

They are not used to indicate a thought, even when a narrator is recalling the idea of what someone said. They are used when recalling the exact words that someone said.

• Example (recalling an idea): John remembered that Susie had told him to put his pants on when he left the house.
• Example (recalling exact words): John remembered Susie’s words so clearly. “If you forget to put your pants on, the neighbors will be angry!” He’d better put them on, he thought to himself.

Note: I threw in a bonus non-quoted thought in that last one!

To show a new person speaking: The rulebooks will tell you that when a new speaker speaks, whether in a conversation between two people or with a narrative paragraph being broken into by a speaker, a new paragraph is necessary. With each new paragraph and each line of dialogue, you must indent.

The most forgiven rules in creative fiction and memoir are those that accompany dialogue, and thus, quotation marks. However, and I’ll keep repeating myself here, it must be done with intention .

It’s very clear when an author is not aware of the rules of where to place punctuation within or outside of quotation marks (though remember, it varies between British and American), or if they are not clear on how to indicate dialogue at all. Usually, these writers are inconsistent with how they indicate or punctuate dialogue.

Consistency is what matters with quotation marks and dialogue. Do you want everything in one line, no quotation marks at all, ala Frank McCourt in Angela’s Ashes? Take a look at how colloquial, familiar, and conversational this feels:

Dad is out looking for a job again and sometimes he comes home with the smell of whiskey, singing all the songs he can about suffering Ireland. Ma gets angry and says Ireland can kiss her arse. He says that’s nice language to be using in front of the children and she says never mind the language, food on the table is what she wants, not suffering Ireland.

On top of the conversational tone and the speed with which you begin to race through the sentence, the perspective here is limited, a little rough around the edges. That’s because at this moment, the narrator is a small child and thus, takes in everything about the world in a particular way.

Using or not using quotes, indenting, breaking paragraphs and all the other rules surrounding dialogue affect style as much as tone.

How do you want the words to look on the page? Many paragraph breaks can achieve the same stilted or at-a-loss feeling as fragmented sentences separated by periods can. The same read aloud test can be used here.

Em-Dashes, Colons, and Parentheses Rules

I’m lumping all of these together because they all achieve a similar goal in creative writing: to indicate an aside, amplify a portion of a sentence or thought, or to offer an alternative point of view.

If you don’t know which to use, my rule of thumb is to always go em-dash, though as I said at the start of this post, you’ve got to be careful not to go overboard.

Using a colon: Unless you’re formatting a list, the only time to use a colon is after an already complete thought. What comes after the colon usually amplifies or expands upon the first portion, but doesn’t indicate much of a pause.

• Example: Sarah has two favorite foods: pizza and ice cream.

Using parentheses: Em-dashes have eclipsed parentheses when used to separate explanatory or qualifying remarks from the rest of the sentence. Using either is correct, but only parentheses can be used to offset a complete sentence or thought, usually as an aside.

Using em-dashes: Aside from replacing parentheses when used within a complete sentence, the em-dash can also set off appositives like commas, indicate a switch in focus, or bring focus to a list connected to a clause.

• Example (replacing parentheses): Mary always said she was an expert in fencing—she’s really not.
• Example (setting off appositives): All three of my dogs—Fluffy, Bumper and Duke—have different personalities.
• Example (switch in focus): And now I will tell you my greatest secret—actually, no, I’ve changed my mind.
• Example (bring focus to a list): Sunscreen, towel, book—everything is packed for the beach!

Here’s where you can have the most fun, in my opinion.

As long as you don’t overuse them, it’s very difficult to misuse a colon, parentheses or em-dash.

Do you want your narrator interjecting his or her own thoughts all the time in a distinctive voice or take on life? Em-dash, em-dash, em-dash!

Do you want to formally and distinctively expand upon a thought, or make that expansion seem like an awaited reveal or an extremely important detail? Use a colon!

Are we getting a whispered aside, an alternative viewpoint, or something special that only the reader gets to know and not others in the story? Do you want to tell a story within a story? Parentheses can achieve that for you!

I often see these three punctuation marks as the playful ones, the marks that can really bring a liveliness to your writing and showcase the voice of a particular character or narrator. Use them sparingly, yes, but play around and see how adding a few em-dashes into your narrative might bring out a new side to your story that even you were unaware was there.

Thanks for going on this whirlwind Punctuation 101 with me. I know it can be exhausting to get down, but once you’ve got the basics firm in your toolbox, you can begin to play with them, alter them to your whim and intentionally manipulate punctuation to change the tone or impact your writing has.

Do you have a favorite punctuation mark? Do you have a favorite author who flagrantly bucks the rules? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

New York Book Editors are a team of professional editors who have worked with some of the biggest names in the industry as well as offering services to indie authors. They provide in-depth manuscript reviews, manuscript critique, comprehensive edit, proposal edit, copyediting and ghostwriting.

Reader Interactions

March 23, 2018 at 3:13 am

I like breaking the rules when it comes to grammar from time to time. Of course, I keep my writing flow simple and to the point.

I’m talking about writing for a blog here. If we’re talking about writing a book or something it’s a different story.

I don’t think most blog readers really care about how good your grammar is as long as it is okay and they can understand the information you are trying to get across.

But, it is always a good idea to learn the proper grammar and use of a comma. I love commas, they do change the way you deliver information.

Thank you for sharing all of these tips and useful information! 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend! 😀

March 23, 2018 at 3:30 pm

Breaking the rules is the best part about having rules!

March 23, 2018 at 8:23 am

Now *that* is a guide! It covers almost everything people will need, each point is clear, but laid out so it’s genuinely fun. This goes straight into my Perennial Recommendations list– thank you, Rachel!

One rule of thumb I’d like to add, for one extra-common mistake I keep seeing:

If you write the characters endquote-period-lowercase, always change it to endquote-comma-lowercase. Also, if the word after an endquote is a name or other capitalized proper noun, imagine it as a simple pronoun to decide whether it would be lowercase, and if it would be, use the comma as above. Some lines with their corrections, and some that don’t need changing, are:

“Here’s one example.” he said. –> “Here’s one example,” he said. “Another example.” John said. –> “Another example,” John said. “There’s no change needed here.” John had little else to say. “And no change needed needed when it ends without a tag.”

March 23, 2018 at 3:23 pm

Rachel here! Thanks for your note and even MORE for you addition. I thought about adding in a note about that, but then realized I’d be taking up almost the whole thing with commas, so I’m glad you commented!

March 23, 2018 at 3:24 pm

Hah, KEN! I read John in your examples and ran with it. – Rachel

March 24, 2018 at 11:07 am

“John” does a lot of my examples. As for myself, I’v e been called worse things. 🙂

March 24, 2018 at 11:58 pm

I’m obsessed with punctuation, with commas in particular, and sloppy use of the latter can turn me off even a very good book. Thanks for featuring this useful article!

March 30, 2018 at 4:02 pm

I think I overdo commas. That’s what I’m trying to improve.

April 18, 2018 at 7:42 am

Rachel, thank you for this excellent exposition. It’s remarkable to me how many writers I’ve encountered who believe that some punctuation marks should simply never be used. This is a view I’ve never shared. It’s not enough to say, for example, that em-dashes are pointless because commas or parentheses can fulfill the same function (an actual argument one of my writing colleagues once made). False. Em-dashes can be used in ways to achieve emotional effects that commas can’t (as your examples show). And I totally agree with your overriding principle: understanding the how and the when of punctuation, so that you know how to deviate with intention.

May 12, 2018 at 7:58 am

You say, “With quotation marks: In American English, the period always goes inside the closing quotation marks. In British English, the period goes outside.”

My understanding is the in British English, where you put the quotation marks depends on how much of the sentence that the period ends is inside the quotation marks. So, if the whole sentence is a quote, you punctuate the same as in American English. But if only the last two words, or an short phrase within the sentence is at the end, then the quote goes inside the period because the end quote doesn’t cover the entire thing that the period covers. And the reason that Americans don’t want to do it the British way, is that you have to think about where the quote begins to know how to punctuate the end of the sentence.

I think a sentence where the last word is in quotes and you put the end quote outside the period doesn’t really make sense and the British rules make more sense. If they always put the quote inside the period, even when the beginning quote started at the beginning of the sentence, then their rules would also not make sense, I think. The quote really should end after the quoted material with whatever punctuation comes within the quoted material inside the end quote, don’t you think.

There might be a reader who is more of an expert on British English that can tell you if my understanding is really correct.

Thank you for this article. I found it fascinating!

May 13, 2018 at 1:21 am

I think it’s important to recognize that there is never an exactly right answer to many of these questions, as style and usage changes over time and place. There are many variations.

September 12, 2019 at 4:27 pm

It would *surpris!ing* if writers didn’t sometimes utilize! the graphic potential of the medium

September 2, 2020 at 3:11 pm

Which is the correct use of comma with quotation marks – in American English?

1. Tolle calls this emotional part of the Ego the “pain body,” the aspect of the Ego…

2. Tolle calls this emotional part of the Ego the “pain body”, the aspect of the Ego…

December 31, 2020 at 12:19 pm

What about colons instead of commas before a quote? example: The man stood up, said: “Why are you so short?” I’ve read a few stories that use this form of punctuation, which is what I used in my novel. However, I’ve heard some who say that it ruins the flow, like a speed bump. I think it sounds fine–but I wrote it :0)

March 14, 2024 at 3:53 pm

When using three periods to indicatexa pause, often in dialogue, isit … or. . . With spaces? Thanks!

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What this handout is about

Used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations can clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when and how to quote like a pro.

When should I quote?

Use quotations at strategically selected moments. You have probably been told by teachers to provide as much evidence as possible in support of your thesis. But packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument. The majority of your paper should still be your original ideas in your own words (after all, it’s your paper). And quotations are only one type of evidence: well-balanced papers may also make use of paraphrases, data, and statistics. The types of evidence you use will depend in part on the conventions of the discipline or audience for which you are writing. For example, papers analyzing literature may rely heavily on direct quotations of the text, while papers in the social sciences may have more paraphrasing, data, and statistics than quotations.

Discussing specific arguments or ideas

Sometimes, in order to have a clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of others, you need to quote those ideas word for word. Suppose you want to challenge the following statement made by John Doe, a well-known historian:

“At the beginning of World War Two, almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly.”

If it is especially important that you formulate a counterargument to this claim, then you might wish to quote the part of the statement that you find questionable and establish a dialogue between yourself and John Doe:

Historian John Doe has argued that in 1941 “almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly” (Doe 223). Yet during the first six months of U.S. involvement, the wives and mothers of soldiers often noted in their diaries their fear that the war would drag on for years.

Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.

There will be times when you want to highlight the words of a particularly important and authoritative source on your topic. For example, suppose you were writing an essay about the differences between the lives of male and female slaves in the U.S. South. One of your most provocative sources is a narrative written by a former slave, Harriet Jacobs. It would then be appropriate to quote some of Jacobs’s words:

Harriet Jacobs, a former slave from North Carolina, published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1861. She exposed the hardships of both male and female slaves but ultimately concluded that “slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.”

In this particular example, Jacobs is providing a crucial first-hand perspective on slavery. Thus, her words deserve more exposure than a paraphrase could provide.

Jacobs is quoted in Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Jean Fagan Yellin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).

Analyzing how others use language.

This scenario is probably most common in literature and linguistics courses, but you might also find yourself writing about the use of language in history and social science classes. If the use of language is your primary topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that language.

Examples of topics that might require the frequent use of quotations include:

Southern colloquial expressions in William Faulkner’s Light in August

Ms. and the creation of a language of female empowerment

A comparison of three British poets and their use of rhyme

Spicing up your prose.

In order to lend variety to your prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid language. All quotations, however, must closely relate to your topic and arguments. Do not insert a quotation solely for its literary merits.

One example of a quotation that adds flair:

President Calvin Coolidge’s tendency to fall asleep became legendary. As H. L. Mencken commented in the American Mercury in 1933, “Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored.”

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?

Once you’ve carefully selected the quotations that you want to use, your next job is to weave those quotations into your text. The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself. You can think of each quote as the filling in a sandwich: it may be tasty on its own, but it’s messy to eat without some bread on either side of it. Your words can serve as the “bread” that helps readers digest each quote easily. Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations.

In illustrating these four steps, we’ll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt’s famous quotation, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

1. Provide context for each quotation.

Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you. It is your responsibility to provide your reader with context for the quotation. The context should set the basic scene for when, possibly where, and under what circumstances the quotation was spoken or written. So, in providing context for our above example, you might write:

When Franklin Roosevelt gave his inaugural speech on March 4, 1933, he addressed a nation weakened and demoralized by economic depression.

2. Attribute each quotation to its source.

Tell your reader who is speaking. Here is a good test: try reading your text aloud. Could your reader determine without looking at your paper where your quotations begin? If not, you need to attribute the quote more noticeably.

Avoid getting into the “they said” attribution rut! There are many other ways to attribute quotes besides this construction. Here are a few alternative verbs, usually followed by “that”:

Different reporting verbs are preferred by different disciplines, so pay special attention to these in your disciplinary reading. If you’re unfamiliar with the meanings of any of these words or others you find in your reading, consult a dictionary before using them.

3. Explain the significance of the quotation.

Once you’ve inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution, don’t stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper. Using our Roosevelt example, if you were writing a paper on the first one-hundred days of FDR’s administration, you might follow the quotation by linking it to that topic:

With that message of hope and confidence, the new president set the stage for his next one-hundred days in office and helped restore the faith of the American people in their government.

4. Provide a citation for the quotation.

All quotations, just like all paraphrases, require a formal citation. For more details about particular citation formats, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . In general, you should remember one rule of thumb: Place the parenthetical reference or footnote/endnote number after—not within—the closed quotation mark.

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt, Public Papers, 11).

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”1

How do I embed a quotation into a sentence?

In general, avoid leaving quotes as sentences unto themselves. Even if you have provided some context for the quote, a quote standing alone can disrupt your flow.  Take a look at this example:

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

Standing by itself, the quote’s connection to the preceding sentence is unclear. There are several ways to incorporate a quote more smoothly:

Lead into the quote with a colon.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression: “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

The colon announces that a quote will follow to provide evidence for the sentence’s claim.

Introduce or conclude the quote by attributing it to the speaker. If your attribution precedes the quote, you will need to use a comma after the verb.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. He states, “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

When faced with a twelve-foot mountain troll, Ron gathers his courage, shouting, “Wingardium Leviosa!” (Rowling, p. 176).

The Pirate King sees an element of regality in their impoverished and dishonest life. “It is, it is a glorious thing/To be a pirate king,” he declares (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

Interrupt the quote with an attribution to the speaker. Again, you will need to use a comma after the verb, as well as a comma leading into the attribution.

“There is nothing either good or bad,” Hamlet argues, “but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet 2.2).

“And death shall be no more,” Donne writes, “Death thou shalt die” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Dividing the quote may highlight a particular nuance of the quote’s meaning. In the first example, the division calls attention to the two parts of Hamlet’s claim. The first phrase states that nothing is inherently good or bad; the second phrase suggests that our perspective causes things to become good or bad. In the second example, the isolation of “Death thou shalt die” at the end of the sentence draws a reader’s attention to that phrase in particular. As you decide whether or not you want to break up a quote, you should consider the shift in emphasis that the division might create.

Use the words of the quote grammatically within your own sentence.

When Hamlet tells Rosencrantz that he “could be bounded in a nutshell and count [him]self a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2), he implies that thwarted ambition did not cause his depression.

Ultimately, death holds no power over Donne since in the afterlife, “death shall be no more” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Note that when you use “that” after the verb that introduces the quote, you no longer need a comma.

The Pirate King argues that “it is, it is a glorious thing/to be a pirate king” (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

How much should I quote?

As few words as possible. Remember, your paper should primarily contain your own words, so quote only the most pithy and memorable parts of sources. Here are guidelines for selecting quoted material judiciously:

Excerpt fragments.

Sometimes, you should quote short fragments, rather than whole sentences. Suppose you interviewed Jane Doe about her reaction to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. She commented:

“I couldn’t believe it. It was just unreal and so sad. It was just unbelievable. I had never experienced such denial. I don’t know why I felt so strongly. Perhaps it was because JFK was more to me than a president. He represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

You could quote all of Jane’s comments, but her first three sentences are fairly redundant. You might instead want to quote Jane when she arrives at the ultimate reason for her strong emotions:

Jane Doe grappled with grief and disbelief. She had viewed JFK, not just as a national figurehead, but as someone who “represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

Excerpt those fragments carefully!

Quoting the words of others carries a big responsibility. Misquoting misrepresents the ideas of others. Here’s a classic example of a misquote:

John Adams has often been quoted as having said: “This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.”

John Adams did, in fact, write the above words. But if you see those words in context, the meaning changes entirely. Here’s the rest of the quotation:

Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!’ But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell.

As you can see from this example, context matters!

This example is from Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Oxford University Press, 1989).

Use block quotations sparingly.

There may be times when you need to quote long passages. However, you should use block quotations only when you fear that omitting any words will destroy the integrity of the passage. If that passage exceeds four lines (some sources say five), then set it off as a block quotation.

Be sure you are handling block quotes correctly in papers for different academic disciplines–check the index of the citation style guide you are using. Here are a few general tips for setting off your block quotations:

• Set up a block quotation with your own words followed by a colon.
• Indent. You normally indent 4-5 spaces for the start of a paragraph. When setting up a block quotation, indent the entire paragraph once from the left-hand margin.
• Single space or double space within the block quotation, depending on the style guidelines of your discipline (MLA, CSE, APA, Chicago, etc.).
• Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it’s a quote.
• Place parenthetical citation according to your style guide (usually after the period following the last sentence of the quote).
• Follow up a block quotation with your own words.

So, using the above example from John Adams, here’s how you might include a block quotation:

After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson:

Adams clearly appreciated religion, even if he often questioned its promotion.

How do I combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks?

It can be confusing when you start combining quotation marks with other punctuation marks. You should consult a style manual for complicated situations, but the following two rules apply to most cases:

Keep periods and commas within quotation marks.

So, for example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.”

In the above example, both the comma and period were enclosed in the quotation marks. The main exception to this rule involves the use of internal citations, which always precede the last period of the sentence. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries” (Poe 167).

Note, however, that the period remains inside the quotation marks when your citation style involves superscript footnotes or endnotes. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.” 2

Place all other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except when they were part of the original quotation.

Take a look at the following examples:

I couldn’t believe it when my friend passed me a note in the cafe saying the management “started charging $15 per hour for parking”!

The coach yelled, “Run!”

In the first example, the author placed the exclamation point outside the quotation mark because she added it herself to emphasize the outrageous nature of the parking price change. The original note had not included an exclamation mark. In the second example, the exclamation mark remains within the quotation mark because it is indicating the excited tone in which the coach yelled the command. Thus, the exclamation mark is considered to be part of the original quotation.

How do I indicate quotations within quotations?

If you are quoting a passage that contains a quotation, then you use single quotation marks for the internal quotation. Quite rarely, you quote a passage that has a quotation within a quotation. In that rare instance, you would use double quotation marks for the second internal quotation.

Here’s an example of a quotation within a quotation:

In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “‘But the Emperor has nothing on at all!’ cried a little child.”

Remember to consult your style guide to determine how to properly cite a quote within a quote.

When do I use those three dots ( . . . )?

Whenever you want to leave out material from within a quotation, you need to use an ellipsis, which is a series of three periods, each of which should be preceded and followed by a space. So, an ellipsis in this sentence would look like . . . this. There are a few rules to follow when using ellipses:

Be sure that you don’t fundamentally change the meaning of the quotation by omitting material.

Take a look at the following example:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus and serves the entire UNC community.”

“The Writing Center . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

The reader’s understanding of the Writing Center’s mission to serve the UNC community is not affected by omitting the information about its location.

Do not use ellipses at the beginning or ending of quotations, unless it’s important for the reader to know that the quotation was truncated.

For example, using the above example, you would NOT need an ellipsis in either of these situations:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus . . .”

The Writing Center ” . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

Use punctuation marks in combination with ellipses when removing material from the end of sentences or clauses.

For example, if you take material from the end of a sentence, keep the period in as usual.

“The boys ran to school, forgetting their lunches and books. Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

“The boys ran to school. . . . Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

Likewise, if you excerpt material at the end of clause that ends in a comma, retain the comma.

“The red car came to a screeching halt that was heard by nearby pedestrians, but no one was hurt.”

“The red car came to a screeching halt . . . , but no one was hurt.”

Is it ever okay to insert my own words or change words in a quotation?

Sometimes it is necessary for clarity and flow to alter a word or words within a quotation. You should make such changes rarely. In order to alert your reader to the changes you’ve made, you should always bracket the altered words. Here are a few examples of situations when you might need brackets:

Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence.

Suppose you were quoting a woman who, when asked about her experiences immigrating to the United States, commented “nobody understood me.” You might write:

Esther Hansen felt that when she came to the United States “nobody understood [her].”

In the above example, you’ve changed “me” to “her” in order to keep the entire passage in third person. However, you could avoid the need for this change by simply rephrasing:

“Nobody understood me,” recalled Danish immigrant Esther Hansen.

Including supplemental information that your reader needs in order to understand the quotation.

For example, if you were quoting someone’s nickname, you might want to let your reader know the full name of that person in brackets.

“The principal of the school told Billy [William Smith] that his contract would be terminated.”

Similarly, if a quotation referenced an event with which the reader might be unfamiliar, you could identify that event in brackets.

“We completely revised our political strategies after the strike [of 1934].”

Indicating the use of nonstandard grammar or spelling.

In rare situations, you may quote from a text that has nonstandard grammar, spelling, or word choice. In such cases, you may want to insert [sic], which means “thus” or “so” in Latin. Using [sic] alerts your reader to the fact that this nonstandard language is not the result of a typo on your part. Always italicize “sic” and enclose it in brackets. There is no need to put a period at the end. Here’s an example of when you might use [sic]:

Twelve-year-old Betsy Smith wrote in her diary, “Father is afraid that he will be guilty of beach [sic] of contract.”

Here [sic] indicates that the original author wrote “beach of contract,” not breach of contract, which is the accepted terminology.

Do not overuse brackets!

For example, it is not necessary to bracket capitalization changes that you make at the beginning of sentences. For example, suppose you were going to use part of this quotation:

“The colors scintillated curiously over a hard carapace, and the beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello.”

If you wanted to begin a sentence with an excerpt from the middle of this quotation, there would be no need to bracket your capitalization changes.

“The beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Not: “[T]he beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gibaldi, Joseph. 2009. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 7th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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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]

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 June 28, 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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Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, quotation marks.

One of the primary jobs of quotation marks is to set off exact spoken or written language. When writers use quotation marks correctly, they give credit to the original author and avoid plagiarism. Quotation marks are also used to enclose titles of short works and always appear in pairs.

Quotation marks should be used to enclose the following:

• Dickens informed his readers that “Oliver cried lustily” (17). [1]
• “Two keys to successful public speaking,” said the CEO, “are to connect with the audience immediately and then hold their attention with captivating content.”
• “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Raven,” “Amazing Grace”
• As he walked alongside Mr. Bumble, Oliver had a habit of “inquiring at the end of every quarter of a mile whether they were ‘nearly there’” (Dickens 22).

Avoid misuse of quotation marks

• Place the closing quotation mark after the last word of a direct quotation, not after the parenthetical reference.
• Do not enclose the title of your own paper in quotation marks (unless it appears in another document).
• Do not use quotation marks around a quotation of four or more lines; use a block quotation instead.
• Do not use quotation marks around indirect quotations, clichés, or for simple emphasis.

Related Concepts

Writing with sources.

W riting with Sources concerns the ethical and artful use of sources.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, Inc., 1960. Print.

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

Recommended

Academic Writing – How to Write for the Academic Community

Structured Revision – How to Revise Your Work

Professional Writing – How to Write for the Professional World

Credibility & Authority – How to Be Credible & Authoritative in Research, Speech & Writing

Citation Guide – Learn How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing

Page Design – How to Design Messages for Maximum Impact

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Punctuation Marks: Quotation Marks (in Fiction Writing)

by Melissa Donovan | Jun 8, 2023 | Punctuation Marks | 62 comments

How to use quotation marks.

The placement of quotation marks perplexes a lot of people. Do they go inside or outside of other punctuation marks, like periods and commas? Should they be used to set off titles or to emphasize certain words? Are they used for both spoken dialogue and thought dialogue? What about text messages or notes in a novel — should they be placed in quotes or italics?

Today we’re going to look at quotation marks with a focus on how they should be used within the realm of fiction writing.

Quotation Marks and Dialogue

She said, “I’m writing a book.”

“I’m working on it,” she whispered, “but it’s going to take a while.”

Then she asked, “Are you going to write one too?”

When using quotation marks to portray dialogue, the quotes go outside of the dialogue’s closing punctuation marks, which are usually commas or periods but can also be exclamation points or question marks.

A dialogue tag ( he said, she said ) should end with a comma when it precedes the dialogue:

She said, “My book is almost done.”

The dialogue itself should follow the rules of grammar, with the first letter of sentences capitalized, and the appropriate terminal punctuation marks (period, question mark, etc.) in place — the only exception is when a dialogue tag is placed after the dialogue, in which case the dialogue should end with a comma instead of a terminal punctuation mark, such as a period:

“My book is almost done,” she said.

However, when the dialogue tag comes after the dialogue and the dialogue ends with an exclamation point or a question mark, there should be no terminal comma on the dialogue:

“How long will it take to write a book?” she asked.

And the dialogue tag should always start with a lowercase letter, even if preceded by an exclamation point or question mark, which are terminal punctuations marks:

“I wrote a book!” she declared.

Single Quotation Marks

Dialogue within dialogue should be placed in single quotation marks:

She handed him a pen and said, “Here are some words of wisdom: Ursula K. Le Guin once said, ‘First sentences are doors to worlds.'”

Thought Dialogue

Fictional narratives often include the characters’ thoughts:

“Is my book any good?” she wondered.

There are no grammatical rules for formatting thought dialogue. However, if spoken dialogue and thought dialogue are both placed in quotation marks, it could become confusing or difficult for readers to differentiate between the characters’ thoughts and speech.

That’s why many authors use italics for thought dialogue:

Is my book any good?  she wondered.

But often a simple revision will eliminate the need for quotations marks or italics:

She wondered if her book was any good.

What About Text Messages or Notes?

Many authors use italics to indicate text messages within a narrative, including notes that one character writes to another character. If the message or note is more than a few lines, it should be set off in block quotes, and it doesn’t need quotation marks or italics or anything else. However, for a short note or text message, use quotation marks, not italics:

She sent a text message, saying, “I just sent my manuscript to you.”

Titles and Quotation Marks

Most titles should be italicized, including book titles. Quotation marks are used for titles of shorter works (that are part of a larger work). For example, an album title is italicized; a song title is placed in quotation marks. A magazine title is italicized, but the title of an article within the magazine is placed in quotation marks. A book title is italicized, but a chapter title should be in quotation marks.

Quotation Marks vs. Italics

It’s not unusual to see quotation marks and italics used interchangeably or incorrectly. I’ve seen italics used for dialogue and quotes used to refer to words beings referenced as terms within a text. Here’s a quick rundown of correct or common usage:

• Titles of books, magazines, films, television shows, and albums should be italicized.
• Titles of chapters, articles, episodes, and songs should be in quotation marks.
• Quotes, including song lyrics or quoted notes and messages, should be in quotation marks, but if they exceed a few lines, they should be in block quotes.
• When referring to a word as a term, use italics. Example: The word  book has multiple meanings.

Ultimately, the purpose of punctuation marks is to make your writing clear and consistent. You’ll find that the rules of grammar often don’t address questions that arise regarding how to properly use quotation marks. That’s why it’s best to use a style guide, which will cover most issues that grammar doesn’t address.

62 Comments

In the phrase “dialog, quotes, and titles” in the second paragraph, wouldn’t the word quotations be the correct word rather than quotes, as quote is a verb and quotation is a noun?

Hi Sharon. The word quotes is also used to refer to actual quotation marks. In fact, quote(s) has a few different meanings. Check out the entry in the dictionary: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quotes .

Question about quotation marks used for chapter titles: If the chapter title falls at the end of a sentence, or before a comma, does the punctuation go inside the quotation marks? I have seen several writers do this. My thinking is that the chapter title does NOT include punctuation, so, unlike actual quoted speech, the punctuation is outside of the quotation marks. Example: The first chapter is “How to Tie Knots”. Or, would it be, as many writers do: The first chapter is “How to Tie Knots.”

In America, we put punctuation inside the quotation marks. British English puts punctuation marks outside of the quotations. I was grateful when I learned this because at one point I remember being quite concerned about all the terminal punctuation marks outside the quotations marks I was seeing on the internet. I kept thinking that this was pretty basic stuff, and I saw it coming from a few astute writers. Then I learned that it is correct placement in Britain, and I was relieved. So, here’s your answer:

If you are writing American English: The first chapter is “How to Tie Knots.” If you are writing British English: The first chapter is “How to Tie Knots”.

This formatting is applied whether the terminal punctuation mark is part of the text in quotes or not. The above examples would be the be same if the text within the quotation marks was dialogue. If you’re writing for a mixed audience (e.g. online), then you have to make a judgment call. You might choose based on the majority of your readership or you might simply go with which way feels or looks best to you. Good luck!

Thank you so much for clarifying this! Even though I’m American, the British format makes more sense to me!

You’re welcome!

I think I know what you actually mean, Kay. Suppose you were saying: “Is the last chapter of the book called “How to Tie Knots”? It seems that the question mark should NOT be inside the quotation marks because the title is not “How to Tie Knots?” but “How to Tie Knots.” I think I prefer the Brit way!

It’s a little complicated. In American typesetting, the rule is that smaller punctuation marks like periods and commas go inside quotation marks while larger punctuation marks like question marks and exclamation points go outside the quotation marks. There’s no real logic behind it. It’s actually a matter of aesthetics.

For example, you can write either:

I read a brief essay titled “How to Tie Knots.”

Have you read “How to Tie Knots”?

THANK YOU for posting this! 🙂 very helpful

You’re very welcome! Punctuation can be fun!

o_o can you put a quotation if your thinking something?? (Example:”hmm thats weird” I thought to myself) or this one (hmm thats weird, I thought to myself) which is correct?

As far as I know, there isn’t a right or wrong way to format thoughts. However, most writers use italics since that’s a good way to avoid confusion between internal dialogue (thoughts) and external dialogue (conversation). Example:

Hmm, that’s weird , I thought to myself.

Glad that the subject of internal dialogue was brought up.

In external dialogue, a line might be as follows: “I’m bored,” she said. She said, “I’m bored.” “I’m bored,” she said, “out of my skull.” In either case, the character’s statement has a terminating punctuation (comma in the first, period in the second, both in the third), which is contained INSIDE the quote marks…independent of whether that punctuation would have been used if the dialogue were formatted as a complete sentence (as the comma in the third example).

In INTERNAL dialogue, I would not use quote marks; rather I would italicize the dialogue. My question is thus: Do I format the terminating punctuation with the dialogue in the internal, just as I would include it within quotes in the external? Or do I count it and format it as “narration?”

Chances are, not too many people are going to notice which one I use, but I’d just gone through one of my stories and noticed that I’d been inconsistent in this concern.

If I have two or more statements that are not separated by narration, THAT punctuation will be formatted according to the dialogue, of course, as in: I’M BORED. I’M BORED OUT OF MY SKULL, she thought. The first period would remain formatted with the dialogue, but what about that comma?

I’ve seen so many pages that discuss internal dialogue, AND discuss how to punctuate dialogue, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a combination.

I think that if you’re including the phrase “she thought,” then you need the comma:

I’m bored. I’m bored out of my skull , she thought.

However, once you establish that italicized text indicates internal dialogue, you may not need “she thought” or the comma. You do, however, need to be sure it’s clear which character the internal dialogue belongs to:

Lacy sighed. I’m bored. I’m bored out of my skull.

Thank you for addressing this topic. I am writing a children’s story that is primarily written through the character’s thoughts. For example, S thought, “what would be better?” Or, “this is the best!”,S thought. I gather I should be using italics instead of quotation marks and watching where I place my punctuation marks. I hope I understood your response correctly. Thank you.

I generally advise against writing a story through characters’ thoughts. Readers usually prefer stories that are told through action and dialogue. My recommendation would be to format the thought dialogue without the tags. For example: What would be better? Note that “S thought” is not included. Having said that, please consider this a very loose suggestion. I would need to review your text and overall concept in full in order to make a specific recommendation.

Melissa, thank you so much for all of the helpful info.

I’m actually writing a short story, but I’ve never been a fan of the way this looks — “How are you?” she asked.

Does anyone (including Melissa) know of a way to avoid using quotes altogether in creative fiction dialogue? I have some ideas, but nothing that I feel really works.

Thank you everyone.

Yes! Actually, I have seen writers forgo dialogue quotes altogether and use italics instead. In that case, the challenge is to make sure that it’s very clear who is speaking. I would try some different methods and see if any of them work for your project. If they don’t, then you may have to come back to standard quotation marks. Best of luck to you!

Personally, I think that not using quotes in dialogue would be confusing. Do you have a specific reason for not wanting to use quotes except aesthetics? If you don’t add a dialogue tag every time, I think it would get confused with action, and continually using ‘he said/she said,’ gets boring.

This post explains that I do use quotes for dialogue and italics for thought dialogue. One well-known writer who didn’t use quotes was Cormac McCarthy, and you can see an example of this in his book The Road . The dialogue is quite clear in that book, even without quotes.

It’s easy – everything goes within the quotation marks. The best way to learn is to practice writing dialogue.

…unless you’re British, in which case everything (and by “everything,” I mean terminal punctuation marks) goes outside of the quotation marks.

Melissa, I’m British, and I’ve never heard it said that all punctuation marks go outside the quotes. Quite the contrary. We were taught that they ALWAYS go inside. I learned about using quotes many long years (decades) ago. It wasn’t a problem. We were taught how to do it, did lots of examples, and we learned and remembered. (Mostly). Most of the punctuation we were taught stuck. And that includes apostrophes, which I think is easy. If it belong to someone or something use an apostrophe. If there are more than one, don’t. (Exception: it. It’s means It is, so to avoid confusion, the possessive has no apostrophe. Its.

Most British writing resources I’ve found along with various posts and books have certain punctuation marks outside the quotes. A search online for “british punctuation quotation marks” will show plenty of results confirming this. Wikipedia explains and cites it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks_in_English#British_style .

I love the article, but I still have trouble with question marks in dialogue. There’s no difficulty when the question finishes the sentence as in: She asked, “What do you want?” The difficult bit is when the sentence is reversed: “What do you want?” she asked. Although this looks right doesn’t the question mark denote the end of the sentence. If so, shouldn’t the following ‘she’ begin with a capital?

You’ve got it right. A question mark in dialogue is formatted as follows: “What do you want?” she asked. If the dialogue had been anything other than a question, the question mark would be replaced with a comma, even if the dialogue was a full sentence. You might pick up a grammar or style guide that you can reference when these types of questions arise. Good luck!

Hi, Melissa,

A friend and I are editing/critiquing each other’s fiction novels. In my work, my character says:

“None of them had a patient of my husband’s description. Lydia called back and said there were no accident reported, so I decided to drive over here to his office and see if he might have broken down between here and home. Nothing.

“I just arrived here when Corporal Barber and his partner pulled up.”

My friend says that I should close quotations after the word nothing. Since my character continues what she is saying on the next line, I know that I should not close the quotation. I’ve tried to look it up on several websites to show her, but I can’t find it. What is the truth?

Hi Sharolyn. Your friend has the right idea. Dialogue should end with a paragraph via closing quotation marks. If the dialogue continues at the start of the next paragraph, that next paragraph should commence with opening quotation marks. Note that I am referring to paragraphs, not “lines.” The proper way to punctuate your example would be as follows:

“None of them had a patient of my husband’s description. Lydia called back and said there were no accident reported, so I decided to drive over here to his office and see if he might have broken down between here and home. Nothing.”

As a side note, the word accident should be pluralized. You might want to check a few novels to see how dialogue and punctuation marks are carried out with similar constructs.

I just found this on a website:

6.If a quotation spills out over more than one paragraph, don’t use end quotes at the close of the first paragraph. Use them only when a character is done speaking.

I would agree with Sharolyn on this one. If you close the quotes at the end of a paragraph and then open them again at the beginning of the next, it could appear that someone else is speaking.

I think Sharlyn proves right in this case. in many instances, I have seen this appear in books, and it also makes sense.

Yes, I’ve seen it done both ways. Whichever way you choose, make sure it’s consistent throughout the manuscript. A good way to ensure consistency is to use a style guide (I recommend Chicago Manual of Style ).

I learned that if the speech is carried on to another paragraph, there should be no closing quotes at the end of the paragraph, but opening ones at the beginning of the next. I looked it up. Louiseharnbyproofreader.com agrees with me, as does the MLA handbook. Closing the quotes signifies the end of that person’s speech, so could cause confusion. Leaving the previous paragraph open shows that it’s not a new person speaking.

I have a question. I quoted the Buddha’s Eightfold Path in an assignment. I said: The Buddha’s Eightfold Path includes; right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness. Just a list… and I gave him credit. Should I have put that in quotations? Should I put the Ten Commandments in quotations? I could not find that answer to this anywhere, and the list part itself was tagged as plagiarism by Safe Assign. It seems someone else listed the same path on essays.com or some such site. Safe Assign is wrong, of course!!! I have never even thought of cheating that way. I memorized that information from my notes in the course… Anyway, I need to know if I was wrong.

Hi Julie. Your question is a little beyond the scope of comment discussion. How you format quotations depends on where you are publishing or submitting your work. Generally, you should ask an authority figure (teacher, boss, editor) which style guide you should be using, then consult that guide to find out how to properly format a piece of writing. If there is no style guide established, I recommend using The Chicago Manual of Style , which you’ll find in most bookstores and on Amazon.

I’m editing a kid’s magazine. The format that they have chosen to go with is to emphasize by use of quotation marks. eg: Learning Objective: Practice the usage of “behind.” They use North American English, and thus should follow NA grammar rules, but do you think that the period should still fall within the quotation marks when the period is not part of what is being emphasized with the quotation marks? It’s pretty tough to find punctuation rules when using quotations marks for emphasis. I would rather just italicize them, but they’re the boss.

Learning Objective: Practice the usage of “behind.”

That is exactly how I would format it. In the U.S. we rarely put terminal punctuation marks outside the closing quotation marks.

If the title of the magazine appears in an italicized sentence, then do you just leave it italicized (along with the rest of the sentence)…or put it in quotes to stand out?

A title should either be in quotes or italics, not both. Whether you use quotes or italics depends on the style guide that you’re using. Normally, I would put the magazine title in italics and the title of an article within the magazine in quotes. Good luck!

If quoted paragraphs do not fit on one page and at the end of first page (continued on back page) is typed, does one place quotation marks before (continued on back page) and on back page start with quotation marks to end it, or just put them at the beginning and very end of entire quote,only? Please advise, Thanks.

Pat, it really depends on the publication you’re writing for. If this is for a class, you should consult with your instructor or the style guide that he or she assigned. Most style guides mandate that you do not include quotes at all on quoted material that exceeds two lines. Instead, you indent the entire quote and leave the marks out. There are different rules if the quotes designate dialogue. You would not issue an extra set of quotation marks because the quoted material continues on the next page. The reader knows that the first marks open the quotation and the quotation does not close until the closing marks. Again, there are exceptions and the rules vary depending on style, form, and publication. Dialogue, in particular, is handled differently.

In the novel form, Is it proper to place dialogue in italics, without placing quotes around the italicized dialogue. This would be for emphasis and not general use throughout the manuscript.

Generally, italics should not be used to emphasize or identify dialogue. So no, it is not proper to format it with italics and without quotation marks. The dialogue should speak for itself (no pun intended) and italics for emphasis should be used rarely (better yet: not at all). It’s best to let the reader determine where the emphasis belongs and a well written sentence shouldn’t need to show the reader where the emphasis goes. Having said all that, plenty of writers have taken creative liberty with punctuation marks. But consider this:

“You don’t have to go,” she said. “You don’t have to go,” she said.

As you can see, the italics tell the reader where to place emphasis but does so unnecessarily. Good luck.

I don’t like to disagree with an expert, but I think the emphasis is important. Emphasising different words changes the meaning of the sentence. Try it. I can’t put italics on here. My tablet won’t let me. Emphasis on ‘you’ means that everyone else is going, but ‘you’ can stay home. Emphasis on ‘don’t’ indicates that the person thinks they do have to go, but the speaker is saying they don’t. Emphasis on ‘have’ indicates it’s not compulsory. Emphasis on ‘go’ indicates that the person can stay.

Most of your comments on this post are disagreeing with it. The sentence is “You don’t have to go.” Deeper meaning would ideally be provided with words, not formatting.

If the intended meaning is “Everyone else is going, but you can stay home,” then that should be the sentence.

Formatting isn’t always available and should not be relied on for full meaning. But each writer needs to do what they feel is best in any given situation. There might be times when the best option is to use formatting for emphasis. I think this would most likely occur in dialogue. This is just my opinion, but I think the best writing doesn’t require special formatting to reveal its meaning.

Hi Melissa, I am a speech-language pathologist and I have a question regarding a problem I face in report writing for my profession. Here is an example from a report: The client was engaged in converstation and independently answered the following questions: “how are you?”; “how old are you?”; “where do you live?”; and “are you married?”.

Can you please tell me if my punctuation and capitalization are correct? Thanks for your help! Nicole

This comments section isn’t really a place to get professional advice on commercial writing. As a quick answer, however, I would format the questions into a bulleted list and eliminate the quotation marks. Also, the first letter in each sentence (a question is a sentence) should be capitalized. Good luck!

When a character is relating a conversation to another, and he quotes a third character’s short sentences mixed with and his own short responses, can all the short sentence quotes go into one paragraph or must each change of speaker have its own paragraph. For example:

Wolf said, “I told him, ‘You can’t go in there.’ He told me, ‘I don’t care, I’m going in.’ I warned him,” Wolf said, “‘This gun is loaded, and I know how to use it.’ He said defiantly, ‘you’ll have to use it to keep me out.'”

My suggestion would be to rewrite this so that you don’t need so many quotation marks. I would also use the other character’s name. This is pretty confusing the way it’s written. For starters, if Wolf is relating a conversation, he can summarize it instead of quoting dialogue. Here’s an example:

Wolf said, “I told him not to go in there, but he didn’t care. I warned him, showed him my gun…”

Another option would be to write the scene as it’s happening instead of having Wolf relate it:

“You can’t go in there,” Wolf said.

“I don’t care. I’m going in,” said Joe.

Hope that helps.

Hi Melissa, This is a very helpful article and I appreciate all of the advice you have given to the commenters. I have a question I am hoping you can help with. I am writing my first novel and it is first person. My character, Madelyn, is reading a letter that she received from her friend, Ellie. So I am wondering; would the dialogue in the letter be placed into quotation marks like spoken dialogue? Or is distinguishing the written dialogue from the spoken dialogue more a matter of formatting (i.e. indenting the written dialogue)? Or maybe I’m missing some other option I should use to punctuate this part?

Any advice you might have would be very much appreciated!

I have seen this in novels before. Sometimes, written communications are set off by italics. Another good way to distinguish a lengthy passage of written communication is to use a full-paragraph indent, so the entire paragraph is indented by about half an inch with extra spacing above and below. Good luck with your novel!

Hi everyone!

I’ve not read all the comments here but I’m English and would like to point out why we use a ful stop (period) after a quotation mark. A full stop (period) indicates the end of a sentence so it must be placed outside the quotation mark, otherwise it is suggesting the end of the sentence comes BEFORE the final quotation mark. The only way a full stop (period) can be used before the quotation mark is when the entire sentence is in quotes, which rarely happens The American way cannot possibly make sense imho.

Having said that, I found the entire article very interesting. Thanks.

I can see the logic there, but it raises the question of when the sentence actually ends. I would say the sentence is the character’s dialogue and the sentence ends as soon as the character stops speaking, and then the character closes his/her mouth (at which point the quotation marks appear).

When the period is outside the quotation marks, it looks sloppy to me, like it’s floating around out there by itself, not attached to a sentence.

I think it’s just because we’re used to whatever standards are common in our respective countries.

When the emphasized word occurs within a clause and is followed by a comma, I presume the comma is still always inside the quotes? “Just fly down the shore of Lake Michigan to the “Temple,” turn west, and there it is!”

This would be true regardless of the word emphasized?

In the example sentence, there is no reason to emphasize the word temple (also, it should not be capitalized unless it’s the proper name of a particular temple). In any case, we do not use quotation marks for emphasis — they are reserved solely for quotes, dialogue, and (sometimes) chapter or article titles. If we do need to emphasize a word, we would use italics or bold. Occasionally, we might use ALL-CAPS (but this usually indicates yelling). However, we never emphasize a word in order to tell the reader where the emphasis should be in the sentence.

“Just fly down the shore of Lake Michigan to the temple, turn west, and there it is!”

Some of the finer points people raise really can be perplexing. Your advice to consult a style manual appropriate to the context is right on. The Purdue Owl has some reliable online guidance that will generally be accepted in academic settings and will also serve for all but the most esoteric fiction situations. In writing groups I belong to, I sometimes see writers who seem completely at sea on some of the most basic points you’ve covered. I would suggest that as a starting point, writers should look at traditionally published books in their own country to see how publishing houses handle these issues. If you’re a reader, you’ll have this kind of guidance close at hand!

Yes, I have often visited the Purdue Owl. Thanks for mentioning that. And I agree that studying traditionally published books is a good way to learn. Reading is essential for all writers.

Excellent article! Sharing…

Thanks, Bette. I appreciate it.

Thanks for this thorough and helpful advice.

Thanks for this article. I’ve made enough comments as I was going through, but it was very helpful.

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7 Rules of Punctuating Dialogue: How to Punctuate Dialogue Easily

Learning how to punctuate dialogue is important when writing the conversations between your characters. Punctuating dialogue might not sound like a very exciting topic or a lot of fun as a writer to study – but it is very important in making sure your dialogue exchanges between characters make sense to your readers! Good punctuation…

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Learning how to punctuate dialogue is important when writing the conversations between your characters.

Punctuating dialogue might not sound like a very exciting topic or a lot of fun as a writer to study – but it is very important in making sure your dialogue exchanges between characters make sense to your readers!

Good punctuation will help your readers connect to your characters and help you write a stronger book.

If you’ve done all of the work of planning an outline for your novel and worked on developing your characters , the last thing you want to do is lose readers by making common grammar mistakes!

How to Punctuate Dialogue

Dialogue punctuation rules are fairly straight forward and simple. Once you learn the basics of how to use punctuation in dialogue, it becomes second nature. You’ll be writing down those spoken exchanges between your fictional characters while writing your novel in no time!

In order to punctuate your dialogue correctly, it helps to understand the different parts of a sentence.

Most dialogue sentences are made of two parts: the dialogue, which is the spoken portion of the sentence, and then the dialogue tag, which identifies the speaker.

In this example, we have the following sentence, spoken by Martha.

“I am going to the zoo,” said Martha.

The sentence which Martha speaks is the dialogue . This is the part that ends with a comma. The second part is the dialogue tag . The dialogue tag is what identifies Martha as the speaker.

Now that we know this basic anatomy of dialogue sentence structure, let’s move onto the rules!

The 7 Rules of Dialogue Punctuation

These rules are simple to follow.

Rule #1: Use Quote Marks and Commas

Surround your dialogue with quotation marks and end it with a comma before the last quote mark. End with the dialogue tag to identify the speaker.

“This is my favorite dress,” said Sally.

“I put your keys on top of the dresser,” Mark insisted.

For simple sentences, this is easy enough to remember. Now let’s get into punctuating more complex sentences!

Rule #2: Always Create a New Paragraph Line for New Speakers

When you have a new speaker, you should create a new paragraph line.

Example of Wrong Usage:

“This is my favorite dress”, said Sally. “It looks terrible on you,” said Mark.

In the example here, the two different speakers should have their own paragraphs.

Example of Proper Usage:

“This is my favorite dress,” said Sally. “It looks terrible on you,” said Mark.

Here each part of the dialogue exchange has its own individual paragraph.

Rule #3: Put Periods Inside of Quotation Marks When Not Using Dialogue Tags

When your sentence ends with a dialogue tag, you use a comma inside the quotation marks. When you are not using dialogue tags, you’ll want to put the period inside the quotation marks as well.

Incorrect Example:

Mark walked across the room to the corner dresser. “I swear I put your keys here”.

Correct Example:

Mark walked across the room to the corner dresser. “I swear I put your keys here.”

In these examples, we don’t need dialogue tags because we have already identified Mark in the paragraph. If we follow Rule #2 of always giving each character their own paragraph, we don’t have to worry about any potential confusion on who is speaking. It’s also not necessary to use a dialogue tag.

The important thing to remember for this rule is that we place the period inside the quotation marks.

Rule #4: Avoid Run-On Sentences – Use Multiple Sentences if Necessary

It’s easy to want to create run-on sentences. Fortunately, it is also easy to avoid them.

Below is an example of a run-on sentence in dialogue with way too much punctuation.

“I love this dress,” said Sally, “I’m going to wear it everywhere, not just to the wedding, but also to the grocery store, the library, and the pancake dinner.”

This above example has several mistakes in it. First of all, you should not put a comma after a dialogue tag. It’s best to use two separate sentences.

“I love this dress,” said Sally. “I’m going to wear it everywhere. I’m not just going to wear it to the wedding. I’m going to wear it to the grocery store, the library, and the pancake dinner.”

You can see in this example above we’ve actually transformed what was one giant run-on sentence into several sentences all within the quote marks.

Is this the most captivating dialogue you’ve ever read? Probably not, but it serves our example here.

Rule #5: Do Use a Comma for Action Within the Dialogue

“I love this dress,” said Sally, carefully taking it out of the closet. “I think it’s hideous,” said Mark, wondering why on earth she would want to wear something that reminded him of pea soup. “You do realize it’s the same color as pea soup, don’t you?”

In this instance, we DO use a comma, because it separates the dialogue tag from the action. In this case, Sally is doing a physical action as she takes the dress from the closet. Mark’s action is not a physical action. However, it still counts as a verb and an action all the same.

Rule #6: Know How to Punctuate Dialogue in Reverse

In all of our examples so far, we’ve put the dialogue tag at the end. However, both the dialogue tag and the action can come before the dialogue. In this case, you simply end the dialogue with a period and use a comma after the dialogue tag.

Mark whispered, “I love you even if you are wearing an ugly dress.” Looking into his eyes, Sally said, “Thank you for understanding.”

Basically, when the dialogue tag or the action comes first, you simply reverse the dialogue punctuation marks for the comma and the period.

Rule #7: Multiple Paragraphs of Same Speaker

When you have a character who is speaking a lot, it is okay if you need to use multiple paragraphs. Simply omit the end quotation mark at the end of the first paragraph and begin the second paragraph with a quote mark.

This can sometimes be confusing to readers, but there are times when it is appropriate.

“Listen, I have a lot to say about why I love this dress.” Sally straightened her posture. “This dress was my grandmother’s dress. She wore it when she first came to this country in 1936. She had nothing – no money, no food – but she had this dress. “That’s where I am today. I have nothing. Nothing! No job, no money, no car. I have this dress. It worked for my grandmother, maybe it will work for me, too. “I’m wearing this dress, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Again, sometimes it is better to break up your dialogue with different speakers or to add action – but it’s not always necessary. Largely a lot of this will depend on your own unique type of  writing style , type of work you are writing and what your goals are as a writer.

Additional Dialogue Punctuation Resources

Many writers can find the task of correctly punctuating their character’s dialogue to be overwhelming. Hopefully these punctuation rules for dialogue will help you improve as a writer.

Need more dialogue writing tips? Check out our article on 6 Tips for Writing Dialogue .

You may also find that a good style manual can be a great resource to have on hand as a desk reference as a writer.

Writing dialogue punctuation does not have to be difficult. With practice and a basic understanding of these rules for when to use commas, quotation marks, and periods, you can easily add dialogue to your stories confidently.

Have any suggestions for ways you can easily remember the rules on how to punctuate dialogue? Share your tips in the comments section below!

Chelle Stein wrote her first embarrassingly bad novel at the age of 14 and hasn't stopped writing since. As the founder of ThinkWritten, she enjoys encouraging writers and creatives of all types.

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Do You Use Quotation Marks for Thoughts? (Helpful Examples)

Thoughts can be difficult to express appropriately in writing. You won’t always be able to do it, but when you can, it’s important to know how to punctuate them. This article will explain all you need to know about punctuating thoughts in your writing.

Do You Use Quotation Marks for Thoughts?

As long as you specify that you’re talking about thoughts by using something like “I thought” or “he thought” around it, quotation marks work well.

Are Thoughts Italicized or Quoted?

How to properly quote thoughts in a sentence.

Now is the time to see how to quote your thoughts properly. For the most part, you’ll be writing thoughts in third person when quoting like this. It’s most common to see thoughts in creative writing (often from the perspective of a third-person view).

Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are fairly common in this way when writing creatively. Many novels will include quotation marks around thoughts to help separate them from the rest of their prose.

Is It OK To Quote Thoughts in a Sentence?

Including your thoughts in formal writing would take away from the integrity of whatever you’re writing about. It’s best to keep them in more creative or informal passages to make sure you’re using thoughts correctly.

Final Thoughts

You can include thoughts in creative writing with quotation marks or italics. It’s more common to see thoughts italicized in creative writing because it helps to separate the thoughts from other dialogue (which typically uses quotation marks to show that someone is talking).

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Last updated by Chelsea Swiecinski on December 9, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Activities to Teach Quotation Marks & Dialogue in Writer’s Workshop

Teaching quotation marks is crucial in the primary grades. Students need to build a strong foundational knowledge of quotation marks and dialogue in order to improve their writing skills. In this post, I’ll share some activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue that you’ll want to include in your writer’s workshop this year.

Activities to Teach Quotation Marks and Dialogue

Whether your students are working on narrative writing or writing news stories, quotation marks and dialogue are critical components to teach. Students need a variety of ways to practice correct use of quotation marks, so you’ll definitely want to incorporate different activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue in your writer’s workshop.

Teach Quotation Mark & Dialogue Rules

There are a few key rules to cover when you teach quotation marks and dialogue. Students will need to know the basics before they can move on to other activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue.

Start your unit on quotation marks with an interactive PowerPoint that teaches a foundation for dialogue while allowing students to get involved. Make sure to cover types of punctuation used and which letters should and should not be capitalized.

Read a Strong Mentor Text

Mentor texts are an excellent way to show students how quotation marks are used in context. 

If you decide to use a mentor text as one of your activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue, make sure to choose a text that has a variety of examples of this skill. Pick a text that works as an engaging read aloud story to keep students interested, as well.

Here are a few read aloud stories that feature quotation marks and dialogue:

• Grammar Tales: The Mystery of the Missing Sock by Justin Martin
• “Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate by Bob Graham
• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
• The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman

Take a look at this post for more great mentor texts to teach grammar skills!

Brainstorm Different Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags are the words that tell who is speaking and how they are speaking. The word “said” is probably the easiest and most common word used in dialogue tags, but make sure to help students understand that it is not the ONLY word they should use!

To do this, work with students to brainstorm a variety of dialogue tags. Discuss when each type of dialogue tag could be used and generate examples.

Color Code Parts of Dialogue

Have students use different colored highlighters or crayons to identify the different parts of dialogue. Use one color for the dialogue tag, another color for the quotation marks, and another to show the words that are being spoken.

Use Manipulatives to Add the Quotes

Create your own quotation mark manipulatives, or use an interactive PowerPoint to have students move quotation marks where they belong in dialogue.

One fun and simple option is to use dry macaroni as manipulatives for quotation marks. This can be used as a center activity for practice with dialogue.

Incorporate Math Skills

Cross-curricular connections help students to consolidate their understanding by applying skills from different subject areas. Incorporate a little math in your writing lessons with this What Does the Shape Say? activity and anchor chart.

In this activity, students practice describing attributes of different shapes by writing dialogue from the shape’s point of view. 

Add Quotation Marks to a Reading Passage

Give students a reading passage that is missing quotation marks. Have them fill in the quotes where they belong in the dialogue.

A short news story with missing quotation marks is a great option to use for this activity. Students will get more exposure to different types of text and how quotes are used in different contexts.

Practice with Quotation Marks & Dialogue Task Cards

Task cards can be used in a variety of ways as one of your activities to teach quotation marks. Students can work independently or with partners to complete the tasks. You can also set up a “roam the room” activity to get students up and moving a bit. 

These task cards from my quotation marks unit are a great way to help students identify examples and nonexamples of correct quotation mark usage. 

Write Dialogue Using Speech Bubbles

Display dialogue between two people using speech bubbles. Then, have students add quotation marks and dialogue tags to write out the full dialogue.

Using speech bubbles can help students make the connection between the exact words that characters say and the quotation marks they put around those words. 

Assess Students’ Understanding

Ensure that your students have a strong understanding of quotation marks and how to use them with a short, simple assessment. Strong assessments will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge by using quotation marks, capital letters, and punctuation correctly.

After students take the assessment, evaluate whether or not they need further lessons or activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue.

More Activities to Teach Quotation Marks & Dialogue

My Using Quotation Marks grammar unit is loaded with activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue. With short, effective mini-lessons.  reading passages & comprehension questions, task cards, posters and assessment.

With the included weekly grammar routine you can teach, practice, and assess your students’ grammar in just 15 minutes a day. This unit is completely no-prep and ready-to-use! See the quotation marks grammar unit here .

Grammar unit source

I hope these activities to teach quotation marks and dialogue are helpful for you and your students! 

Don’t forget to pin this post so you can come back to it during your planning time!

For more ideas and activities to teach quotation marks and writing skills, check out these posts:

A Simple Strategy That Will Transform Your Writing Workshop

Parts of Speech PowerPoints that Are Interactive and Fun

Second Grade Grammar Curriculum That Fits Any Schedule

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I’m Linda Kamp, a 20 year primary grade teacher with a passion for creating educational materials that excite students and make learning fun! I'm so glad you're here!