英语语法：131 Quotation Marks

Grammar Girl here.

Today's topic is single quotation¹ marks versus² double quotation marks.

Cyndy left this message on the MyChingo line:

Hey Grammar Girl. I would love for a future topic to be on the use of quotes versus, I don't know, the single quote. Sometimes I call it the apostrophe. I always thought that the use of a quote is only when you are actually talking about words that were spoken, not when you are trying to, sort of, put a little sub-bracket around something. I just see quotes used so often on content that is not an actual quote, and I think that that's incorrect. Am I right?
Tony (from Deadwood, South Dakota), Steve (from Albany, New York), and David (from Cleveland, Ohio), also e-mailed to ask about single versus double quote marks, so it seems as if a lot of people are really confused about this particular issue.

First, there are other legitimate³ uses for quotation marks besides surrounding direct quotations⁴ or spoken words. Double quotation marks are often used around titles, as in the titles of two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books: “Green Eggs And Ham” and “If I Ran The Zoo.” In some cases you can use italics for titles instead of quotation marks.

Double quotation marks can also be used to indicate that a word is special in some way. I bet you've all seen quotation marks used as something called scare quotes, which are quotation marks put around a word to show that the writer doesn't buy into the meaning. For example, I could write the sentence: Women achieved “equality” when they were granted the right to vote in 1920. This would indicate that although women getting the right to vote was heralded⁵ as equality at the time, I don't think it was enough of a gain to merit the word equality. More often though, scare quotes (which are also sometimes called sneer⁶ quotes) are used to impart a sense of irony⁷ or disdain⁸. They're especially common in nasty political commentary, as in Politicians “care” about their constituents*.

Double quotation marks can also be used when you are writing a sentence and you want to refer to a word rather than use its meaning. This comes up in almost every Grammar Girl episode, and I previously⁹ used quotation marks in this way; but it's a style issue and you can also use italics to call out the word. So, I decided¹⁰ to change the Grammar Girl style and use italics instead of quotes because I thought it would look cleaner, and I went back and edited 21 old episode transcripts¹². After that folly¹³, my wrists hurt and I vowed¹⁴ never to change a style again!

So, the question is still out there: When do you use single quotation marks? The most common use is when you are quoting someone who is quoting someone else. You enclose the primary speaker's comments in double quotation marks, and then you enclose the thing they are quoting in single quotation marks. For example, imagine you've interviewed the aardvark for a magazine article about his harrowing ordeal¹⁵ with the arrow, and he said, “Squiggly saved my life when he said, 'Hang in there, aardvark.'” You would write that as, “Squiggly saved my life when he said, 'Hang in there, aardvark.'” And, if you're ever in the extremely rare position of having to nest another quote inside a sentence like that, you would use double quotation marks again for the quote inside of the single quotation marks.

And finally, a couple of other uses for single quotation marks are using them when there's a quote in a headline**, and using them to highlight words with special meaning in certain disciplines such as philosophy, theology, and linguistics¹⁶.

Also, Katherine at Clark College asked me to point out the difference between the words quote and quotation. Quote is a verb that means to repeat what someone else has said or written. For example, "The aardvark quoted Squiggly." Quotation is noun used to describe what you are quoting, as in "Squiggly's quotation was inspiring."

It's common to hear people use the noun quote as a shortened form of quotation, as in "I filled my notebook with quotes from The Daily Show," but this is technically¹⁷ wrong. It should be, "I filled my notebook with quotations from The Daily Show." Now, I agree the correct way sounds kind of pretentious¹⁸, and given that a lot of reference sources have extra entries discussing how the misuse¹⁹ is widespread, you aren't going to sound illiterate²⁰ if you use quote incorrectly, but it is still really good to know the difference.

So, that's all about quotation marks for now, but don't worry: I know a lot of you have asked other quote- and quotation-mark-related questions, and I have them all in the queue. There are just a lot of detailed²¹ rules and it's too much to cover all at once in a single episode.

More Proofreading²²

Plus, I have some fun follow-up information about proofreading. If you haven't been over to the transcripts yet at quickanddirtytips.com, you're missing out on some great listener comments.

Linda in Arizona posted a link to a newspaper article describing a typo on the ballot²³ for the upcoming election that makes an item on the Arizona ballot inconsistent with the more complete wording of the proposition, and it appears that if the proposition passes, what the law really means will have to be worked out in court. So that's a really expensive and unfortunate typo!

Other people have also posted great proofreading tips, including one suggesting that you can use software that comes with Apple computers to have the computer read your text to you, so that you can hear any errors. That seems like a great tip because it overcomes the problem of your eyes skipping over typos because you know what you meant to write.

Poll

Finally, about 280 people have taken the proofreading poll so far, and most of you think you are either great proofreaders or average proofreaders. Only 20% of you admitted to being bad proofreaders.

Older Episodes

OK. Here's a great voice mail I got this morning:

This is Miss Alvarez's 11th grade SAT class in Valley Stream, New York, and we were wondering if you could talk about the difference between "that" and "which." Thanks!

I loved the little "whoop²⁴" at the end of that message. There's a kid who is excited about grammar! I actually covered that versus which in episode number eight, Which's Brew²⁵, but obviously that information is hard to find because people are e-mailing or calling almost every day to ask me to cover this topic. So, check out Which's Brew, and I will be working on a way to make older episodes easier to find.

Diversions

Also, I have to share a great diversion. Elizabeth from Santa Cruz sent me a link to a wonderful video at YouTube where Weird²⁶ Al Yankovic does a parody²⁷ of a Bob Dylan song using nothing but palindromes. So if you like that sort of thing I put a link in the transcript¹¹ section at quickanddirtytips.com for you.

Weird Al Palindromes Video at YouTube

And finally, a listener named Paula created a Grammar Girl page at Wikipedia! If you want to check it out, or you are into editing Wikipedia articles, there's a direct link to the page in the transcript at quickanddirtytips.com.

So, that's all! As always, this is Grammar Girl striving to be your friendly guide inthe writing world. Thank you to everyone for all you do to help me with the show.

 

1 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

4 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 heralded   

v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The singing of the birds heralded in the day. 鸟鸣报晓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。

7 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

8 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

12 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

13 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

14 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

15 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

16 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

17 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

18 pretentious   

adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• He is a talented but pretentious writer.他是一个有才华但自命不凡的作家。
• Speaking well of yourself would only make you appear conceited and pretentious.自夸只会使你显得自负和虚伪。

19 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

20 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

21 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

22 proofreading   

校对，校勘( proofread的现在分词 )； 做校对工作； 校读

参考例句：

• Martha, when can you finish proofreading the script? 玛莎，你什么时候可以校对完剧本？ 来自轻松英语会话---联想3000词(上)
• Attention, an important factor in editing and proofreading, affects editing quality directly. 注意力是编校过程中重要的心理因素，直接影响编辑质量。

23 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

24 whoop   

n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息

参考例句：

• He gave a whoop of joy when he saw his new bicycle.他看到自己的新自行车时，高兴得叫了起来。
• Everybody is planning to whoop it up this weekend.大家都打算在这个周末好好欢闹一番。

25 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

26 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

27 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。