Quotation Marks

A minor work is often a part of a major work: one poem from a poetry collection, one song from an album, one article from a periodical, one chapter from a book, one article in an anthology, or one episode of a television series. The titles of essays, sermons, or lectures would also appear in quotation marks.

Standard Sentences

We just listened to “Here Comes the Sun” from Abbey Road by the Beatles.

She was assigned an analytical paper on a poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

My favorite episode of The Office is called “Threat Level Midnight.”

Professor Jones recently gave a lecture entitled “Elizabethan England (with an emphasis on William Shakespeare).”

In standard American edited English (British use is different), punctuation marks—with a few exceptions—appear within the ending quotation mark.

Standard Sentences

The storm caused him to say, “It always rains on Thursdays.”

She said, “I’ve only been here since Tuesday,” but she had been there since Monday night.

“Have you ever,” she said, slamming the door, “been so insulted?”

The next three sample sentences demonstrate another rule about the use of punctuation with quotation marks. Notice how question marks and exclamation points are used with quotation marks. Notice, too, where lowercase letters are used. 

Standard Sentences

When she asked, “Have you seen the show?” he answered, “No!”

We heard her shout, “I’ve won the lottery!” but was she serious or was she joking?

“Have you read my essay yet?” the student asked the professor.

“She lost my copy of Hamlet!” he yelled.

In each of the sentences above, a comma might be expected after the first quotation. For example, this would be correct: “She lost my copy of Hamlet,” he said. However, the question marks and exclamation points are punctuation enough—a question mark and a comma or an exclamation point and a comma would be incorrect, as in the sentences below:

Nonstandard Sentences

When she asked, “Have you seen the show?,” he answered, “No!”

We heard her shout, “I’ve won the lottery!”, but was she serious or was she joking?

“Have you read my essay yet?”, the student asked the professor.

“She lost my copy of Hamlet,”! he yelled.

The colon and the semicolon are two of the exceptions to the rule that punctuation marks appear within the ending quotation mark. They may appear outside the quotation marks.

Standard Sentences

Hamlet has three essential lines: “When the wind blows north-northwest, I know a hawk from a handsaw”; “Now I am alone”; and “The rest is silence.”

She’s always saying, “Now cracks a noble heart”: her dramatic nature demands it.

In rare instances, exclamation points and question marks may also appear outside the quotation marks. These occur when the exclamation points and question marks are not part of the quoted matter but are essential to the writer’s intent:

Standard Sentences

Did George Washington really say, “I cannot tell a lie”?

Neville Chamberlain was never more wrong than when he promised “Peace for our time”!

Standard

One of my professors said, “Jack Benny always used to start his shows by saying, ‘This is Jack Benny talking.’”

Note that this is the only case in which single quotation marks are used. The following sentences show nonstandard use of single quotation marks.

Nonstandard

One of my professors said, ‘Jack Benny was my favorite comedian.’

The one word I cannot spell is ‘recipe.’

Nonstandard

My roommate said that “she didn’t want to go to the play.”

Standard

My roommate said that she didn’t want to go to the play.

Standard

My roommate said, “I don’t want to go to the play.”

Not preferred

Sidney must have thought, This is the best day ever.

She’s not as talkative as I imagined, I thought.

Preferred

Sidney must have thought, “This is the best day ever.”

“She’s not as talkative as I imagined,” I thought.