Questions tagged [quotations]
Questions about quotations, a group of words taken from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker.
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Would You Capitalize a Part of Sentence That is After a Dialogue? [duplicate]
This something that I'm very confused about...
You see, here is one example of the sentence:
I ran ahead and said, "I don't want that," and crashed against a wall.
In this sentence, you ...
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Punctuating nested quotations
I am editing a novel and I have some questions on how to punctuate nested quotations (or quotations within quotations).
Here is the first example:
"I kept saying ‘it’s fake’ and ‘he did this’ ...
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What to enclose in square brackets and not?
I use square brackets when I paraphrase, i.e. when I change or add some words to a text I quote. I have noticed an inconsistency in what I enclose in the square brackets and not. Here are two examples....
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Strange usage of quotations in Wikpedia article [closed]
My girlfriend and I were reading a Wikipedia page and were confused as to the usage of quotations in the following Wikipedia article: King Kong Bundy.
Specifically, towards the end, the article ...
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Punctuation in dialogue that addressed more than one person
So I got a question regarding comma in speech. Here is an example of the sentence:
“Wait a minute.” I hurriedly shouted to stop him and said to her, “Who invited that blockhead to this party?"
In ...
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Should you capitalize run-in sentence? [duplicate]
So I come up with a question in narration, and here's a few example:
I know from her smile that she was saying "you look like an idiot" to me.
She was more likely than not dishing me out ...
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Can you introduce a direct quotation with "that" and not accommodate conjugation and pronouns?
I've heard this many times recently in public, copy-edited discourse, where I don't expect to find grammatical errors, but it doesn't sound right to me. Let's say my mom says to me, "I want you ...
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Proper way to delineate paraphrase in casual (text-based) conversation
First question would be: is it ok to use quotation marks for a paraphrase in casual (text-based) conversation?
Here's my current example:
A: You were insulting people.
B: I'm going to get angry. Deal ...
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How to quote a list (for a scientific thesis)?
I would like to quote a list verbatim.
Let's say this is the list, and it's originally from a book:
Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine, finance, ...
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Use of [brackets] in quotation: altering a single letter in a direct quote
We know that brackets, [these], are used for altering or adding extra information to a direct quote. For example, from this answer:
These are used to indicate that a direct quote has been edited [or ...
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How would you punctuate someone referring to themselves by a nickname? [duplicate]
Being the "family freeloader," as Tom liked to call himself, he felt as though he had no right to complain.
Should the comma come after the quotation marks, or is the current placement ...
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How to use quotation marks when quoting more than one paragraphs?
When quoting on a website like Stack Exchange, we have block quotes:
like these
but if they aren't available, and I want to use "double quotation marks": "then the quote is enclosed ...
user387044
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"If it were not for" and "if it had not been for": Which is more traditional?
Some use "if it were not for" to mean both the present and the past events, while others use "if it had not been for" for the past. For the former, see Oxford and be (verb) in OALD....
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How to quote material that ends sections with semicolons
I haven't found an answer to this specific scenario:
"This is an example of the quoted text from the report where this section ends with a semicolon;"
That is also the end of my sentence so ...
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Grammatically wrong quote
As a researcher, I often need to quote from the previous authors. Sometimes, it happens that there are spelling mistakes in the part I want to quote. I treat this as a human error and write the ...
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How to punctuate dialogue/ direct quotations?
I am a little confused on how to punctuate dialogue. Does the speaker always need to be set off by punctuation? For example, which of the following is correct.
Albert said "I like to eat cake.&...
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What's a positive phrase to say that I quoted something not word by word
Sometimes I quote in my writing sombody else, but I do not know the exact words the other person had used. What is a concise and positive(*) phrase to describe this? I found different options on the ...
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Where the heck do I put a period in these sentences?
Hullo all,
I've been given a doozy of a job that is thick with sentences like this:
Student will demonstrate emphasizing with the feelings of another by remembering a similar past experience and ...
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Can you use square brackets to correct punctuation in quotes? [duplicate]
I know why we use square brackets in quotations. But can we also use it for changing punctuation, in order to make it fit better with the sentence?
For instance:
Original Quote: "We went to the ...
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Pluralizing Quotations [duplicate]
Is there a way to properly pluralize a quotation, if I must and can't just rearrange the sentence to avoid it (or do not wish to rearrange it for artistic purposes)?
Example:
We exchanged many "...
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Can you add a comma at the end of a line to continue the quotation to the next line?
He leaned down whispering,
"Will you stay?"
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Using single quotation marks for shorter quotes, and double quotation marks for longer ones?
Background
This website has had a fair share of questions on the use of single versus double quotation marks. The most popular question on this topic is a good resource on their use in American and ...
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Should I capitalize a word from the middle of a quote if the quote and word occur at the start of the sentence?
I was writing an essay for a school assignment, when I encountered a quote similar the following:
Nobody has encountered a black hole, because they're simply too far away to reach.
I then needed to ...
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Should Quotation-Ending Period Be Comma Unless Sentence Ending?
Now I'm checking Quotation Marks article by Grammarly. The article, for example, introduces
“There was a storm last night,” Paul said.
which uses a comma at the end of the quoted sentence, and
John ...
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What's the reason for using quotations with titles of works?
I have seen that in some styles for documenting sources quotations marks are used for the titles of short works.
What's the reason for setting this as the convention? This seems like a use-mention ...
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Should you include the word "the" inside a quoted/emphasized words? [closed]
I'm having a bit of trouble regarding whether to include the word "the" inside a quoted words.
For example:
None was known when the Great Cataclysm had happened on the other hand.
Should I ...
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“cloud” or "cloud" - is the quotation mark same? [duplicate]
I found two different quotation marks, "cloud" and “cloud”. What's the difference between these? Should I always use "" or “”.
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How can I attribute an entire paragraph to a source?
I need to summarize an interview for a news article across a few sentences in a single paragraph that uses a series of paraphrased remarks.
Specifically, I'm looking for examples of clean ways to make ...
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Should you use quotation marks when transcribing an interview in which the speakers are identified before each quote?
I apologize if the title is unclear, as I couldn't find a great way to phrase this.
What I'm asking is, which of the following would be correct?
Interviewer: Good morning, thank you for joining me.
...
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Giving both page number and number of definition / proposition / theorem / lemma etc [closed]
I imagine this may be an overkill, but when making references to large e.g. mathematical books, I find it helpful to have both the page number and the definition / proposition / theorem / lemma (etc.) ...
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"sic" with "explicitly" (and other adverbs)
I was reading a Wikipedia article on Fermat's principle that quoted some older English text, and one bit confused me:
The principle of Fermat, although it was assumed by that mathematician on ...
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Direct speech sentences without leading "He said,", "She said,", etc
Note: The question at He nodded his head yes; she shook her head no does not answer this queestion because that question deals with a gesture that can be expressed fine without direct speech but in ...
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Should you start a new paragraph for a new speaker if both speakers are contained in the same quoted passage?
This manuscript quotes a passage from the Bible that has more than one speaker:
Job 1:6–7 says:
One day, when the angels had gathered around the Lord, and Satan was there with them, the Lord asked,...
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Origin of the quote "Sadness is caused by intelligence"?
In social media (1)(2)(3), I have found:
"Sadness is caused by intelligence, the more you understand certain things, the more you wish you didn't understand them."
— Charles Bukowski.
But yet ...
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Origin of the saying "God must love the poor because he made so many of them"
The saying "God must love the poor [or the common people or the plain people] because he made so many of them" falls somewhere between a proverb and a famous quotation, but its origins are rather ...
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Should I use [sic] when quoting the KJV 1611?
I am currently working on a project for my Grade 12 religion class, and it requires (surprise, surprise) Biblical quotations. I have decided to use the 1611 KJV Bible and quote verses with very ...
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How can I unambiguously differentiate between the absence or presence of a period in a quote?
For example, take the following sentence that refers to a text message:
This happened after she told me "Okay."
If the original contents of the message did include a period, it would serve a ...
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Interrupted quotation in a paragraph
Please help me with the correct usage of capitalisation in an interrupted quotation.
For example:
Alice yelled, "Get out of here."
In the above sentence, the first word under the quotes is ...
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Should I capitalize this?
Usually, "Yes," "No," and "Leave me alone" were the only utterances anyone could get out of me.
Should yes, no, and leave be capitalized here?
thanks
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Who originally said "A film is made/written three times"?
A movie is made three times: it’s made when it’s written, it’s made in production, and it’s made again in post.
This is a very well known saying within the film industry, essentially explaining how ...
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Origins of "You Got This" and "Wait For It" [closed]
What are the earliest reference quotes, using the cool modern senses below, for each phrase?
”You got this":
Motivational encouragement to instill confidence to overcome some problem/foe.
...
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Brackets upon brackets? (Mine vs. Supreme Court Justice's)
I'm doing some homework. I am quoting from an administrative law decision. The hearing officer who wrote the decision quoted from a Supreme Court dissenting opinion, which quoted from a previous ...
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What does "Nothing is too good for him to eat." mean?
I don't exactly know what it means. Which is the correct form below?
All are good enough for him to eat.
There is not any good thing (or food) for him to eat.
From The Forsyte Saga: The Man of ...
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Comma inside quotes
Is it correct to have a comma inside the quotes below for this excerpt from a story, or should it be outside?
Bob wanted to see the world and meet other people; he would watch the planes fly past ...
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How to go backwards when quoting from something?
I am trying to take a quotation from a book (The Awakening if you're interested), but the part I am trying to quote does not well fit my sentence, I am wondering if there is an accepted way to quote ...
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Placement of period in quotation or definition at end of sentence (American rule)
The American rule for sentences ending in a quotation is that the period should be inside the closing quotation mark. The rule for parentheticals at the end of a sentence is that, when the ...
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Using "that" to introduce a quote [duplicate]
If you use "that" to introduce a full quote from a person is there still a comma and is the first letter of the sentence capitalized?
For example, which one of the following is correct?
Bob once ...
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Can an em dash be inserted in the middle of a quotation for interjection?
I've found questions asking about an em dash in quoted speech, and punctuation rules for em dashes in quotes, but this question is quite different.
The example I saw comes from a tweet, reproduced ...
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Translate the French quote "Il n’y a pas d'amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour" to English?
I’d like to translate a quote from Pierre Reverdy (or Jean Cocteau, this
is an open question apparently). The quote is:
Il n’y a pas d’amour, il n’y a que des preuves d’amour.
For some context in ...
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'A mind is like a parachute'—who coined this expression, and when?
I recently received a Facebook notification from an online quotation site, which attributed the following saying to Frank Zappa:
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.
I ...
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