How to Use Quotation Marks in News Articles
Use single quotation marks to indicate the speaker is quoting someone.Quotations within quotations should use a single quotation mark., End a direct quotation with just one form of punctuation.For instance, don’t write “‘That was quite a day!,’...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Use single quotation marks to indicate the speaker is quoting someone.Quotations within quotations should use a single quotation mark.
This helps the reader understand that it is not the speaker’s words they are reporting, but rather those of another person.
For example, don’t write: “The attorney asked me “Do you want to take the deal?”” Jenson said.
A correct use of quotation marks in that sentence would read: “The attorney asked me, ‘Do you want to take the deal?’” Jenson said. -
Step 2: End a direct quotation with just one form of punctuation.For instance
Instead, choose either the comma or the exclamation mark and omit the other. , Some magazines or newspapers choose not to conform to standard use of quotation marks in their news articles.
Your editorial policy might, for example, require you to use italics instead of quotes around titles of books, movies, and TV shows.
You might need to include different punctuation in place of quotation marks.
Ensure that you understand and conform to your editorial policy when using quotation mark in your news article. , Sometimes, quotes utilize pronouns that have no meaning unless you know who or what the pronoun refers to.
If you wish to use such a quote, you can replace the pronoun or fill in the missing information with brackets.
For instance, you might want to quote Bono as saying, “I think he is someone who really cares about the production value.” Bono said this in conversation about his bandmate, The Edge.
When you publish the quote, you could adjust it to read, “I think is someone who really cares about the production value.” In this way, you can use quotes that would otherwise not make sense if quoted directly word-for-word.
Alternately, you could leave the original pronoun in the quote, and write “I think he is someone who really cares about the production value.”Do not substitute parentheses for brackets, as this indicates that the information in the parentheses was said by the speaker of the quote, rather than added by you. -
Step 3: don’t write “‘That was quite a day!
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Step 4: ’ Michaels said.” In that example
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Step 5: the quotation ends with both an exclamation mark and a comma.
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Step 6: Follow your editorial policy.
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Step 7: Use brackets to fill in missing information in a quote.
Detailed Guide
This helps the reader understand that it is not the speaker’s words they are reporting, but rather those of another person.
For example, don’t write: “The attorney asked me “Do you want to take the deal?”” Jenson said.
A correct use of quotation marks in that sentence would read: “The attorney asked me, ‘Do you want to take the deal?’” Jenson said.
Instead, choose either the comma or the exclamation mark and omit the other. , Some magazines or newspapers choose not to conform to standard use of quotation marks in their news articles.
Your editorial policy might, for example, require you to use italics instead of quotes around titles of books, movies, and TV shows.
You might need to include different punctuation in place of quotation marks.
Ensure that you understand and conform to your editorial policy when using quotation mark in your news article. , Sometimes, quotes utilize pronouns that have no meaning unless you know who or what the pronoun refers to.
If you wish to use such a quote, you can replace the pronoun or fill in the missing information with brackets.
For instance, you might want to quote Bono as saying, “I think he is someone who really cares about the production value.” Bono said this in conversation about his bandmate, The Edge.
When you publish the quote, you could adjust it to read, “I think is someone who really cares about the production value.” In this way, you can use quotes that would otherwise not make sense if quoted directly word-for-word.
Alternately, you could leave the original pronoun in the quote, and write “I think he is someone who really cares about the production value.”Do not substitute parentheses for brackets, as this indicates that the information in the parentheses was said by the speaker of the quote, rather than added by you.
About the Author
Kathryn Campbell
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow organization tutorials.
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