How To Write Quotes Within Quotes
British usage has it outside unless it is part of the quotation as far as i know.
How to write quotes within quotes. Quotations and capitalization sometimes the text inside quotation marks is capitalized other times it isn t. Bobbi said i read an interesting article titled a poor woman s journey. Use single quotation marks for quotations within quotations. 4 use single quotation marks around the quoted portion. Give the name of the first person who is speaking at the beginning of the first quote and then name the person he or she quotes before beginning the second quote.
In american english use double quotation marks for quotations and single quotation marks for quotations within quotations. Make sure you are very clear with the names of who is saying what. In memories of west street and lepke robert lowell a conscientious objector or c o recounts meeting a jehovah s witness in prison. Indicate the secondary source using double quotation marks. Here are the three takeaway points.
American usage is yes it should be inside the quotes even if it is not part of the quotation. In american english you start with double quotation marks and then single quotation marks. Are you a c. When you put a quote inside a quote you alternate between double and single quotation marks. In british english use single quotation marks for if you are using double quotation marks for the outside quote use single quotation marks for the inside quote.
Use double quotation marks around the secondary source s passage. One level of nesting the most common reason for nesting punctuation is shown in section 1 3 7 of the mla handbook p. In ame the outermost quotation mark is a double. The american rule is that periods always go inside all quotation marks. But then someone told me pay it no mind lad note that the period goes inside both the single and double quotation marks.
So for dialogue the spoken text opens and closes with double quotation marks. As a courtesy make sure there is visible space at the start or end of a quotation between adjacent single and double quotation marks. Capitalization of the quoted material depends on the material itself if you re quoting a complete sentence you should start the quote with a capital letter even if the quote is placed in the middle of a sentence. In a town outside brisbane i saw tourists go home written on a wall. We could put quotes inside quotes inside quotes inside quotes and the quotes would always be in alternating quotation marks doubles or singles.