How Do You Know When to Use Quotation Marks
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How to Utilize Quotation Marks
Summary:
A rundown of the general rules of when and where to employ quotation marks.
Using Quotation Marks
The primary function of quotation marks is to prepare off and stand for exact linguistic communication (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 about often use them when working with outside sources, successful use of quotation marks is a applied defense against adventitious plagiarism and an first-class 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 apply of quotation marks. For details and exceptions consult the split sections of this guide.
Direct Quotations
Directly quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing.
- Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do non open a quotation and fail to close information technology at the end of the quoted textile.
- Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence.
Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The conflicting spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."
- Do not use a capital letter when the quoted fabric is a fragment or simply a piece of the original material's complete sentence.
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.
- If a direct quotation is interrupted mid-judgement, do non capitalize the second office of the quotation.
"I didn't run across an bodily alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "only I sure wish I had."
- In all the examples to a higher place, notation how the menstruation or comma punctuation always comes before the final quotation mark. Information technology is important to realize also that when yous are using MLA or some other form of documentation, this punctuation dominion may change.
When quoting text with a spelling or grammar error, you should transcribe the error exactly in your own text. Yet, besides insert the term sic in italics straight later 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 verbal reproduction of what you found, and the error is not your ain.
Mr. Johnson says of the experience, "Information technology's made me reconsider the existence of extraterestials [sic]."
- Quotations are about effective if you use them sparingly and keep them relatively brusk. Too many quotations in a enquiry paper will go you accused of not producing original idea or cloth (they may also bore a reader who wants to know primarily what You lot accept to say on the subject).
Indirect Quotations
Indirect quotations are not exact wordings only rather rephrasings or summaries of another person'due south words. In this case, information technology is not necessary to utilize quotation marks. However, indirect quotations all the same crave proper citations, and you will be committing plagiarism if yous fail to practise and so.
Mr. Johnson, a local farmer, reported last night that he saw an alien spaceship on his own property.
Many writers struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Apply the following tips to guide yous in your pick.
Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable. Practise non rob such linguistic communication of its ability by altering it.
Martin Luther Rex Jr. believed that the stop of slavery was important and of bully hope to millions of slaves washed horribly wrong.
The higher up should never stand up in for:
Martin Luther King Jr. said of the Emancipation Announcement, "This momentous decree came every bit a great beacon light of promise to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice."
Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you but 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 employ direct quotes versus indirect quotes is ultimately a selection 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 newspaper just because your instructor says, "You must use quotes."
Source: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/index.html
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