Please answer each one -- yes or no

Question

I would truly appreciate if a Canadian or British expert could answer these for me. Thanks in advance for your help.

Now I have two questions regarding British punctuation. Based upon everything I've read, I believe all examples below to be 'dead-on'.

Do the British typically start a direct quote with double or single quotation marks. I see both. If both, then I would bet that my two sentences below are correct.

I know there is no need to place 'productive' and 'informative' in quotes; I've done this to see that if, the case arose, this is how it would be done.

1. John said, "I thought the meeting was both 'productive' and 'informative'."
Although this is a direct quote from somebody and because we placed 'informative' in single quotes as the last word in the sentence, this forces the period to fall OUTSIDE of the ending single quote. Then we finish it off with the closing double quote marks as I did above. Is this correct?

2. John said, 'I thought the meeting was both "productive" and "informative".'
Although this is a direct quote from somebody and because we placed 'informative' in double quotes as the last word in the sentence, this forces the period to fall OUTSIDE of the ending double quote. Then we finish it off with the closing single quote mark as I did above. Is this correct?

3. John said, "I thought the meeting was both productive and informative."
4. John said, 'I thought the meeting was both productive and informative.'
5. John said the meeting was both 'productive and informative'.
Period outside because not a direct quote?

6. John said the meeting was both "productive and informative".
Period outside because not a direct quote?

7. 'Potato', of course, is the correct spelling. (Comma outside single quote?)
The witness said, 'I distinctly heard him say, "Don't be late," and then I heard the door close.'

8. My question with this one is, does the comma remain inside the quoted material "Don't be late"?

9. Or, should it be this one? The witness said, 'I distinctly heard him say, "Don't be late", and then I heard the door close.'

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi,
I'm American, and we treat quotes differently than our cousins across the pond. I can refer you to "The King's English," a formal text on all things British.

http://www.bartleby.com/116/406.html#1
Excerpt:

There are single and double quotation marks, and, apart from minor peculiarities, two ways of utilizing the variety. The prevailing one is to use double marks for most purposes, and single ones for quotations within quotations, as:—"Well, so he said to me 'What do you mean by it?' and I said 'I didn't mean anything'". Some of those who follow this system also use the single marks for isolated words, short phrases, and anything that can hardly be called a formal quotation; this avoids giving much emphasis to such expressions, which is an advantage. The more logical method is that adopted, for instance, by the Oxford University Press, of reserving the double marks exclusively for quotations within quotations.
--------------------------------------------------

By the way, when you write:

I thought the meeting was both "productive" and "informative."
It is tongue-in-cheek.

Please answer each one -- yes or no

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions