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Quotation marks in English
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==== 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 ...<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 ...}} |{{serif|‘{{hairsp}}Twas the night before Christmas ...}} |- |{{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|'}}.
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