Editing Quotation marks in English (section)

== Typographical considerations ==

=== Primary quotations versus secondary quotations ===
''Primary quotations'' are [[Orthography|orthographically]] distinguished from ''secondary quotations'' that may be nested within a primary quotation. British English often uses single quotation marks to identify the outermost text of a primary quotation versus double quotation marks for inner, nested quotations. By contrast, American English typically uses double quotation marks to identify the outermost text of a primary quotation versus single quotation marks for inner, nested quotations.

British usage does vary, with some authoritative sources such as ''[[The Economist]]'' and ''[[The Times]]'' recommending the same usage as in the US,<ref>"American and British English". ''The Economist Style Guide'' (Fourth ed.). London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd. 1996. p. 85. {{ISBN|0241135567}}. Tim Austin, Richard Dixon (2003) ''The Times Style and Usage Guide''. London: HarperCollins. {{ISBN|0007145055}}</ref> whereas other authoritative sources, such as ''[[The King's English]]'', ''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage|Fowler's]]'', and ''[[Hart's Rules|New Hart's Rules]]'', recommend single quotation marks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/116/406.html |title=Quotation Marks. Fowler, H. W. 1908. The King's English |work=Bartleby.com |access-date=7 November 2010}}</ref> In journals and newspapers, quotation mark double/single use often depends on the individual publication's [[Style guide|house style]].

=== Spacing ===
In English, when a quotation follows other writing on a line of text, a space precedes the opening quotation mark unless the preceding symbol, such as an [[em dash]], requires that there be no space. When a quotation is followed by other writing on a line of text, a space follows the closing quotation mark unless it is immediately followed by other punctuation within the sentence, such as a colon or closing punctuation. (These exceptions are ignored by some Asian computer systems that systematically display quotation marks with the included spacing, as this spacing is part of the fixed-width characters.)

There is generally no space between an opening quotation mark and the following word, or a closing quotation mark and the preceding word. When a double quotation mark or a single quotation mark immediately follows the other, proper spacing for legibility may suggest that a [[thin space]] (<code>&amp;thinsp;</code>) or larger [[non-breaking space]] (<code>&amp;nbsp;</code>) be inserted.
{{block indent|1=<poem>
So Dave actually said, "He said, 'Good morning'&thinsp;"? (thin-space)
Yes, he did say, "He said, 'Good morning.'&nbsp;" (non-breaking space)
</poem>}}

This is not common practice in mainstream publishing, which will generally use more precise [[kerning]]. It is more common in online writing, although using [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] to create the spacing by kerning is more [[Semantic HTML|semantically appropriate in Web typography]] than inserting extraneous spacing characters.

=== Non-language-related usage ===
Straight quotation marks (or italicised straight quotation marks) are often used to [[Typographic approximation|approximate]] the [[Prime (symbol)|prime]] and [[double prime]], e.g. when signifying feet and inches or [[arcminute]]s and [[arcsecond]]s. For instance, 5&nbsp;feet and 6&nbsp;inches is often written 5'&nbsp;6"; and 40&nbsp;degrees, 20&nbsp;arcminutes, and 50 arcseconds is written 40°&nbsp;20'&nbsp;50". When available, however, primes should be used instead (e.g. 5{{prime}}&nbsp;6{{pprime}}, and 40°&nbsp;20{{prime}}&nbsp;50{{pprime}}). Prime and double prime are not present in most [[code page]]s, including [[ASCII]] and [[Latin-1]], but are present in [[Unicode]], as characters {{unichar|2032|PRIME}} and {{unichar|2033|DOUBLE PRIME}}. The [[List of XML and HTML character entity references#Character entity references in HTML|HTML character entity references]] are {{Code|&prime;}} and {{Code|&Prime;}}, respectively.

Double quotation marks, or pairs of single ones, also represent the [[ditto mark]].

Straight single and double quotation marks are used in most [[programming language]]s to delimit [[String (computer science)|strings]] or literal [[character (computing)|characters]], collectively known as [[string literal]]s. In some languages (e.g. [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]]) only one type is allowed, in some (e.g. [[C (programming language)|C]] and its derivatives) both are used with different meanings and in others (e.g. [[Python (programming language)|Python]]) both are used interchangeably. In some languages, if it is desired to include the same quotation marks used to delimit a string inside the string, the quotation marks are doubled. For example, to represent the string {{samp|eat 'hot' dogs}} in Pascal one uses <code><nowiki>'eat ''hot'' dogs'</nowiki></code>. Other languages use an [[escape character]], often the [[backslash]], as in <code><nowiki>'eat \'hot\' dogs'</nowiki></code>.

In the [[TeX]] typesetting program, left double quotes are produced by typing two back-ticks ({{Code|``}}) and right double quotes by typing two apostrophes ({{Code|''}}). This is a continuation of a typewriter tradition of using ticks for opening quotation marks; see {{section link|Quotation mark|Typewriters and early computers}}.

=== Typing quotation marks on a computer keyboard ===
Standard English computer keyboard layouts inherited the single and double straight quotation marks from the typewriter (the single quotation mark also doubling as an [[apostrophe]]), and they do not include individual keys for left-handed and right-handed typographic quotation marks. In [[character encoding]] terms, these [[character (computing)|characters]] are labeled ''[[wikt:unidirectional|unidirectional]]''. However, most computer text-editing programs provide a "smart quotes" feature to automatically convert straight quotation marks into bidirectional punctuation, though sometimes imperfectly {{crossref|(see {{section link||Smart_quotes}})}}. Generally, this smart quote feature is enabled by default, and it can be turned off in an "options" or "preferences" [[dialog box|dialog]]. Some websites do not allow typographic quotation marks or apostrophes in posts. One can skirt these limitations, however, by using the HTML character codes or entities<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/sgml/entities.html#h-24.2 |title=Character entity references in HTML 4 |work=W3.org |publisher=[[World Wide Web Consortium]] |date=24 December 1999 |access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref> or the other key combinations in the following table. In [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[AutoHotkey]] scripts can be used to assign simpler key combinations to opening and closing quotation marks.
{{Anchor|How to type}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+How to type typographic quotation marks (and apostrophes) on a computer keyboard
! colspan="2" |&nbsp;
! style="text-align: center" |Windows [[Alt code]] combinations
! style="text-align: center;" |[[macOS]] key combinations
! style="text-align: center" |Linux ([[X Window System|X]]) keys
! style="text-align: center" |Unicode point
! style="text-align: center" |[[HTML entity]]
! style="text-align: center" |HTML decimal
|-
!Single opening
|style="text-align: center; width: 30px"|&nbsp;<span style="font-family:serif;font-size:150%">‘</span>&nbsp;
|{{key press|Alt}}+{{keypress|0}}{{key press|1}}{{key press|4}}{{key_press|5}} (on number pad)
|{{key press|Opt|]}}
|{{key press|[[Compose key|Compose]]|<|'}} or {{key press|[[AltGr key|Alt Gr]]|Shift|V}}
|U+2018
|<code>&amp;lsquo;</code>
|<code>&amp;#8216;</code>
|-
!Single closing<small><br />(&amp; apostrophe<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2019/index.htm |title=Unicode Character 'RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK' (U+2019) |work=FileFormat.info |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf|title=General Punctuation: Range: 2000–206F |work=Unicode.org |publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]] |access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>)</small>
|style="text-align: center" |&nbsp;<span style="font-family:serif;font-size:150%">’</span>&nbsp;
|{{keypress|Alt}}+{{keypress|0}}{{keypress|1}}{{keypress|4}}{{keypress|6}} (on number pad)
|{{keypress|Opt|Shift|]}}
|{{keypress|Compose|>|'}} or {{keypress|Alt Gr|Shift|B}}
|U+2019
|<code>&amp;rsquo;</code>
|<code>&amp;#8217;</code>
|-
!Double opening
|style="text-align: center" |&nbsp;<span style="font-family:serif;font-size:150%">“</span>&nbsp;
|{{keypress|Alt}}+{{keypress|0}}{{keypress|1}}{{keypress|4}}{{keypress|7}} (on number pad)
|{{keypress|Opt|[}}
|{{keypress|Compose|<|"}} or {{keypress|Alt Gr|v}}
|U+201C
|<code>&amp;ldquo;</code>
|<code>&amp;#8220;</code>
|-
!Double closing
|style="text-align: center" |&nbsp;<span style="font-family:serif;font-size:150%">”</span>&nbsp;
|{{keypress|Alt}}+{{keypress|0}}{{keypress|1}}{{keypress|4}}{{keypress|8}} (on number pad)
|{{keypress|Opt|Shift|[}}
|{{keypress|Compose|>|"}} or {{keypress|Alt Gr|b}}
|U+201D
|<code>&amp;rdquo;</code>
|<code>&amp;#8221;</code>
|}
{{crossreference|(For additional characters used in other languages, see {{section link|Quotation mark#Summary table}}.)}}

==== Smart quotes ====
To make typographic quotation marks easier to enter, publishing software often automatically converts typewriter quotation marks (and apostrophes) to typographic form during text entry (with or without the user being aware of it). [[Out of the box (feature)|Out-of-the-box]] behavior on macOS and iOS is to make this conversion. These are known as ''smart quotes'' ('''{{serif|{{large|“...”}}}}'''). Straight quotation marks are also [[retronym]]ically called ''dumb quotes'' ('''{{serif|{{large|"..."}}}}''').<ref>{{cite web |url=https://type.fans/typographic-train-wrecks/?route=/2011/01/31/typographic-train-wrecks/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221230644/https://type.fans/typographic-train-wrecks/?route=/2011/01/31/typographic-train-wrecks/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=21 December 2018 |title=Typographic Train Wrecks |first=Dave |last=Spencer |date=31 January 2011 |work=Glyphic |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref>

The method for producing smart quotes may be based solely on the character preceding the mark. If it is a space or another of a set of [[hard-coded]] characters or if the mark begins a line, the mark will be rendered as an opening quote; if not, it will be rendered as a closing quote or apostrophe. This method can cause errors, especially for contractions that start with an apostrophe or text with nested quotations:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Text as typed
!Desired result
!Example erroneous results
|-
|{{mono|'14}}
|{{serif|’}}14
|{{serif|‘}}14
|-
|{{mono|I forgot my 'phone.}}
|{{serif|I forgot my ’phone.}}
|{{serif|I forgot my ‘phone.}}
|-
|{{mono|'Twas the night before Christmas&nbsp;...<ref>[[Clement Clarke Moore|Moore, Clement Clarke]] (1823), "[[A Visit from Saint Nicholas]]", first published in the ''[[Troy Sentinel]]''. The [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/twas-the-night-before-christmas_n_801194 quotation] in the ''[[Huffington Post]]'' exhibits the problem with "smart quotes".</ref>}}
|{{serif|’{{hairsp}}Twas the night before Christmas&nbsp;...}}
|{{serif|‘{{hairsp}}Twas the night before Christmas&nbsp;...}}
|-
|{{mono|"'Hello,' he said, 'to you'"}}
|{{serif|“{{thinsp}}‘Hello,’ he said, ‘to you’{{thinsp}}”}}
|{{plainlist|
* {{serif|“{{thinsp}}‘Hello,’ he said, ‘to you’{{thinsp}}“}}
* {{serif|“{{thinsp}}’Hello,’ he said, ‘to you’{{thinsp}}”}}
}}
|}
In Windows, if it is necessary to follow a space with a closing quotation mark when Smart Quotes is in effect, it is usually sufficient to input the character using the Alt code shown [[#How to type|above]] rather than typing {{keypress|"}} or {{keypress|'}}.