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In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, [1] [2] speech marks, [3] quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name.
Quotation marks: Apostrophe, Ditto, Guillemets, Prime: Inch, Second ® Registered trademark symbol: Trademark symbol ※ Reference mark: Asterisk, Dagger: Footnote ¤ Scarab (non-Unicode name) ('Scarab' is an informal name for the generic currency sign) § Section sign: section symbol, section mark, double-s, 'silcrow' Pilcrow; Semicolon: Colon ...
Quotation marks [A] are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same glyph. [3] Quotation marks have a variety of forms in different languages and in different media.
Alternatively they can be placed inside the quotation marks no matter where they appear in the quoted material; this is known as aesthetic punctuation or American style. Although known as American style and widely used in North America, the latter is also followed in British journalism and fiction writing.
(The full stop (period) is not part of the quotation.) The aesthetic style, which is only really now used in North America, [citation needed] was developed as early typesetters thought it was more aesthetically pleasing to present punctuation that way. In the aesthetic style, the punctuation goes within the quotation marks: For example:
When punctuating quoted passages, put punctuation where it belongs, inside or outside the quotation marks, depending on the meaning, not rigidly within the quotation marks. This is the British style. This sound appealing; even as an American, I have never quite accepted the idea that punctuation should go inside the quotes as often as style ...
For example, the Bluebook, which is used by nearly all American lawyers, judges, and law professors, states at Rule 5.1(b): "Always place commas and periods inside the quotation marks; place other punctuation marks inside the quotation marks only if they are part of the matter quoted." --Coolcaesar 04:43, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
In British English, punctuation marks such as full stops and commas are placed inside the quotation mark only if they are part of what is being quoted, and placed outside the closing quotation mark if part of the containing sentence. In American English, however, such punctuation is generally placed inside the closing quotation mark regardless.