Quoting Question

Question

I have two lines, formatted in the text as:"Shut up!""Nightmare."When I quote them, would I put a space between the inner single quotes, or what?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Please quote them so that we can see your finished sentence.

Anonymous · Answer

"'Shut up!' 'Nightmare'" or "'Shut up!''Nightmare'" - which would be correct?

Mister Micawber · Answer

I am sorry, but I guess I will have to see more of the sentence. They are separate quotes, so I can only presume as they stand that you would need some sort of conjunction and no extra quotation marks, as for instance:

"Shut up!"
"Nightmare."

The main character said, "Shut up" and 'Nightmare."

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks. My paragraph currently runs like this (I'm talking about "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury):
To make the story believable, Bradbury creates rich imagery in the reader’s mind. He achieves this, for example, by using an extended metaphor comparing the T-Rex to some sort of giant machine: “It came on great oiled, striding, resilient legs … examin[ing] men like toys.” He also emphasizes the impact of these descriptions by creating a suspenseful atmosphere. For example, he uses short sentences: “‘Shut up!’ ‘Nightmare.’” These give insight to the intense emotions these otherwise polite characters must be seeing to use such abrupt language. These subtle changes are also used to foreshadow many of the subtle changes that occur when Eckels steps off the path.
As you can see, these are lines of dialogue, not two separate quotes.

Mister Micawber · Answer

They are two separate quotes unless they are uttered in the same turn by the same speaker. You don't need the outside quotes at all, but you do need the conjunction and you don't need the colon:

For example, he uses short sentences such as "Shut up!" and "Nightmare."

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