Overview
Quotation marks are used in many different ways in the English language, in direct quotations, and around the titles of articles, poems, and other shorter works. Italics are used with the titles of longer works and in other specific contexts.
Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations
Direct quotations are enclosed with double quotation marks. “It’s really cold in this room,” she said after the heat in the building was turned off. If a quotation is indirect, no quotation marks are used. After the heat in the building was turned off, she thought that the room was really cold. If a direct quotation is used within another direct quotation, single quotation marks are used to enclose it. “Did you hear the announcement ‘All staff should meet in the main conference room at 3:00’ that came over the loudspeaker?” my coworker asked.
Quotation Marks and Titles
Quotation marks are used for the titles of articles, short poems, speeches, stories, and songs. The article “Vintage Plane Crashes in Hudson River” appeared on the front page of the newspaper. Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of my favorite poems. Did you see the video that some students made to Macklemore’s “Downtown”?
Italics in Titles
Italics are used for the titles of books, long poems, works of art, long musical compositions, newspapers, periodicals, motion pictures, plays, and radio and television series. We are reading Lord of the Flies by William Goulding. She memorized Edna St. Vincent Millay’s long poem Renascence. The Magic Flute by Mozart is one of my favorite operas. Did you read yesterday’s New York Times? Eddie Redmayne won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Do you ever watch House of Cards?
Other Uses of Italics
Italics are used when a word is spoken of as a word. Did you mean affect or effect? They are also used sparingly to emphasize particular words or expressions. Students who register for the trigonometry class should take geometry first. Did you spend all the money?
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