How to write quotes

On the surface writing quotes may seem easy. You just write down what somebody else has said. But if you want to use quotes correctly and effectively, use the following guidelines:

· Always put commas and period inside the quotation marks:

“There are no exceptions to that rule,” the professor said.

· A question mark and other punctuation marks go within the quotation marks if the punctuation refers to the quoted material; otherwise they go outside the quotation marks:

He asked, “When does the semester end?”

Who said, “I hope it ends soon”?

· Each new speaker must be quoted in a separate paragraph:

“Never place quotes from two speakers in the same paragraph”, the professor said.

“Even if it’s short?” Janet asked.

“Yes,” the professor answered.

· Don’t attribute a single quote more than once. If you have two quoted sentences from the same speaker in the same paragraph, you need only one attribution. Place the attribution after the first sentence in a quote:

“You must study you Associated Press Stylebook,” the professor said. “You will have a test Tuesday on material on the first 30 pages.”

· Attribution in the middle of a quote is acceptable but not preferable if it interrupts the thought:

“It isn’t the best way,” he said, “to use a direct quote. Bit it’s all right if the quote is very long.”

· It’s easier for the speaker if you introduce the new speaker in one of two ways:

Peggy Brooks, another 11th-grader, said, “Everybody remained pretty calm….”

Peggy Brooks, an 11th-grader, also was injured in a crash. “Everybody remained pretty calm,” she said.

· Quotes within quotes take a single quotation mark, followed by a double quotation mark:

The woman testified, “He ordered me to lie on the floor, and then he said, ‘I’m going to kill you if you go to the police.’”

· Don’t tack on long explanations for the quote. If the quote isn’t clear by itself, paraphrase. For example, avoid the following:

When we asked how he learned about the fire at his apartment complex, he said, “I heard the news on television.”

“I heard the news on television,” he said when we asked how he learned about the fire at his apartment complex.

Instead, introduce the quote with the transition:

He was at a friend’s house when the fire broke out at his apartment. “I heard the news on television,” he said.

· Avoid quotation marks around words that you want to emphasize. Unless someone said it, don’t enclose it in quotes.

The school has had a “whopping” increase in enrollment.

Read the last part of the text and answer these questions:

1. What synonyms to the word “say” can be used in written speech? Which of them should be avoided and how?

2. What is the difference between attributing the speech of inanimate objects and people?

3. What word order is more appropriate in written speech?