Editing Quotation (section)

{{Short description|Repetition of one expression as part of another one}}
{{About|quoting text and speech|information about the punctuation mark|Quotation mark|economic usage|Financial quote|7=Quotation (disambiguation)|10=other uses|11=Quotation (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
A '''quotation''' or '''quote''' is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written.<ref name="oxford">{{cite book |editor1-last=McArthur |editor1-first=Tom |editor2-last=Lam-McArthur |editor2-first=Jacqueline |editor3-last=Fontaine |editor3-first=Lisa |title=The Oxford Companion to the English Language |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191744389 |edition=2nd}}</ref> In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by a quotative marker, such as a verb of saying. For example: John said: "I saw Mary today". Quotations in oral speech are also signaled by special [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] in addition to quotative markers. In written text, quotations are signaled by quotation marks.<ref name="sdq bonami">{{cite web |last1=Bonami |first1=Olivier |last2=Godard |first2=Danièle |title=On the Syntax of Direct Quotation in French | date=2008 | url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00751080/document |website=HAL |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> Quotations are also used to present well-known statement parts that are explicitly attributed by [[citation]] to their original source; such statements are marked with ([[punctuation|punctuated]] with) [[quotation mark]]s.

As a form of [[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]], '''direct''' or '''quoted speech''' is spoken or written text that reports speech or thought in its original form phrased by the original speaker. In [[narrative]], it is usually enclosed in quotation marks,<ref name="Leech"/> but it can be enclosed in [[guillemet]]s (« ») in some languages.  The cited speaker either is mentioned in the tag (or attribution) or is implied. Direct speech is often used as a literary device to represent someone's point of view. Quotations are also widely used in spoken language when an interlocutor wishes to present a proposition that they have come to know via hearsay.