Editing Quotation marks in English (section)

=== Quotations and speech ===
Single or double quotation marks denote either speech or a quotation. Double quotes are preferred in the United States, and also tend to be preferred in Australia<ref>{{cite web | url=https://davidbrewsterwriter.com/blog/2014/8/19/quote-me-on-this-using-single-and-double-quotation-marks?format=amp | title=Quote me on this: Using single and double quotation marks }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/resources/view/resource/6/ | title=Punctuation Guide &#124; Macquarie Dictionary | date=25 October 2023 }}</ref> (though the Australian Government prefers single quotes)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Australian Government |date=24 October 2022 |title=Quotation marks |url=https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/grammar-punctuation-and-conventions/punctuation/quotation-marks |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323014522/https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/grammar-punctuation-and-conventions/punctuation/quotation-marks |archive-date=23 March 2023 |access-date=1 May 2023 |website=Australian Government Style Manual}}</ref> and Canada. Single quotes are more usual in the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa, though double quotes are also common there, especially in {{Clarify|text=journalistic works|date=May 2023}}.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Penguin Guide to Punctuation |last=Trask |first=R. L. |author-link=Larry Trask |page=94 |isbn=9780140513660 |date=1997|publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Pam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/73994040 |title=The Cambridge guide to Australian English usage |date=2007 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-87821-0 |edition=2nd |location=Melbourne |oclc=73994040 |page= 670}}</ref> In New Zealand, both styles are used.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.clearlingo.co.nz/blog/new-zealand-english-single-or-double-quote-marks | title=New Zealand English: Single or Double Quotation Marks }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/design-and-ux/content-design-guidance/grammar-and-punctuation/ | title=Grammar and punctuation }}</ref>

A publisher's or author's style may take precedence over regional general preferences. The important idea is that the style of opening and closing quotation marks must be matched:

{{block indent|<poem>'Good morning, Frank,' said Hal.
"Good morning, Frank," said Hal.</poem>}}

For speech within speech, the other style is used as inner quotation marks:

{{block indent|<poem>'Hal said, "Good morning, Dave,{{"'}} recalled Frank.
"Hal said, 'Good morning, Dave,{{'"}} recalled Frank.</poem>}}

Sometimes [[Nested quotation|quotations are nested]] in more levels than inner and outer quotation. Nesting levels up to five can be found in the Christian Bible.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Jeremiah|27:1-11|ESV}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||Jeremiah|29:1-28|ESV}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||Jeremiah|29:30-32|ESV}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||Jeremiah|34:1-5|ESV}}; {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|27:1-36|ESV}}</ref> In these cases, questions arise about the form (and names) of the quotation marks to be used. The most common way is to simply alternate between the two forms,<ref>{{cite book |last=Stilman |first=Ann |title=Grammatically Correct |date=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/grammaticallycor00stil_0/page/181 181] |publisher=F+W Media |isbn=978-0-89879-776-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/grammaticallycor00stil_0/page/181 }}</ref> thus:

{{block indent|{{nowrap|" ... ' ... " ... ' ... ' ... " ... ' ... "}}}}

If such a passage is further quoted in another publication, then all of their forms have to be shifted up by one level.

In many cases, quotations that span multiple [[paragraph]]s are set as [[block quotation]]s, and thus do not require quotation marks. However, quotation marks are used for multiple-paragraph quotations in some cases, especially in [[narrative]]s, where the convention in English is to give opening quotation marks to the first and each subsequent paragraph, using closing quotation marks only for the final paragraph of the quotation, as in the following example from ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'':

{{quote|1=The letter was to this effect:

"My dear Lizzy,

"I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy half as well as I do my dear Wickham, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us. I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place would do, of about three or four hundred a year; but however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not.

"Yours, etc."}}

As noted [[Quotation mark#History|above]], in some older texts, the quotation mark is repeated every line, rather than every paragraph.

When quoted text is interrupted, such as with the phrase ''he said'', a closing quotation mark is used before the interruption, and an opening quotation mark after. [[Comma]]s are also often used before and after the interruption, more often for quotations of speech than for quotations of text:

{{block indent|"Everything", said Hal, "is going extremely well."}}

Quotation marks are not used for [[indirect speech]]. This is because indirect speech can be a [[paraphrase]]; it is not a direct quote, and in the course of any composition, it is important to document when one is using a quotation versus when one is just giving content, which may be paraphrased, and which could be open to interpretation.

For example, if Hal says: "All systems are functional", then, in indirect speech:

{{block indent|1=<poem>
''Incorrect'': Hal said that "everything was going extremely well".
''Correct'': Hal said that everything was going extremely well.
</poem>}}