Quotation marks/help

Quotation marks/help
Message from lukaznachi posted on 01-02-2015 at 12:20:26 (D | E | F)
Hello,
I have several questions about quotation marks.
Firstly, can somebody explain to me when we should use single and when double quotation marks? Also, I'm particularly interested in American English, i.e. I want to know whether the United States prefer single or double quotation marks. I've heard that the United States use “ ” for all primary quotations and ‘ ’ for quotations within quotes, while Britain uses ‘ ’ for all primary quotations and “ ” for quotations within quotes. Is this correct?
I will really appreciate if somebody explains this to me briefly and clearly, because there are so many different sources with different explanations that I am confused and I don't know which one to trust.
Thank you for any reply.

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Edited by lucile83 on 01-02-2015 14:02

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Re: Quotation marks/help from traviskidd, posted on 01-02-2015 at 14:37:20 (D | E)
Hello. I don't know about Britain, but you are correct about the US. See you.

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Re: Quotation marks/help from lukaznachi, posted on 01-02-2015 at 14:53:35 (D | E)
Thank you.

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Re: Quotation marks/help from violet91, posted on 01-02-2015 at 19:10:43 (D | E)
Hello ,
As for British English punctuation , there are slight differences , but it is not that strict
Quotation marks or inverted commas : there are two systems.
1 ) Either you use '....' ( two single signs ) for a quotation and sign of a dialogue ( direct speech , spoken English ): and that is what is mostly done .

'To be or not to be', as you know .
The children were playing and suddenly shouted 'Hey ! Here comes Dracula !'

2 ) Or if you quote somebody famous in direct speech , you can have both systems included in the same sentence ( clause ) : ' Are you telling me Hamlet said '' To be or not to be '' and you don't really understand what he meant there ? ' ( the single commas and the double ones )
See you .

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Re: Quotation marks/help from lukaznachi, posted on 02-02-2015 at 09:19:53 (D | E)
Thanks.

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