Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are punctuation marks used to indicate the exact words spoken by someone or to highlight a specific phrase.

Use quotation marks when writing dialogue, quoting someone, or highlighting a specific term or phrase.

Place quotation marks around the spoken words and use a comma before the closing quotation mark if the sentence continues after the dialogue.

"Let's go out and play," said Bruce.

Place the quotation marks around the quote and include a comma or period inside the quotation marks if the quote is at the end.

"Give me that watermelon," said Garfield to Odie.

Enclose the song title in quotation marks, e.g., 'They listened to Mrs. Jansen sing her favorite song, "Livin' On a Prayer."'

Mrs. Little said, "Someone got into trouble with the toilet paper."

Use quotation marks around the spoken words and place the question mark inside the quotation marks if the spoken words are a question.

"How," asked the student, "do I get a Grab-and-Go-Meal?"