Direct Quotations
Blank "is used to indicate a song title, cite praise for a movie, and to set off dialogue." (P. 24 of the Little Seagull Handbook)
Quotations
Long quotations should be set off without
Quotation marks
Single quotations are used when
You quote a passage that already contains quotation marks.
To quote more than three lines of poetry,
Indent the quote one-half inch from the left margin.
(MLA Handbook, P. 194)
When writing the name of a character in a play, what would you offset it with?
A period
What is wrong with this quote:
Dr. Nixon said, "The class has done extremely well on all of the exams".
Correct Sentence:
Dr. Nixon said, "The class has done extremely well on all of the exams."
Punctuation goes INSIDE of the quotation.
Blank is used for quotations of 5 or more lines.
Block quotes.
Use single quotations when the quote encloses a
A quotation and a title.
Use this when quoting more than three lines of poetry.
Block quotations.
When the dialogue shifts to another character:
Start a new line indented half an inch.
When you introduce quoted words with he said, she claimed, or the like, use a blank between the verb and the quote.
Comma
How should block quotations be written?
Start the quotation off on a new line, indent it one half inch from the margin on the left.
What is wrong with this quote:
" "That is all," she said, looking at the fishmonger's. " That is all.""
(Woolf 11)
Since the quotation is enclosing another quotation, single quotation marks should have been used.
" 'That is all,' she said, looking at the fishmonger's. 'That is all.' "
(Woolf 11)
According to the MLA handbook, when quoting poetry you should
Separate the lines of the poem with slashes, each preceded and followed by a space.
Ex) "Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-/ I took the one less traveled by/ And that made all the difference." (Frost, Lines 18-20).
What is wrong with this series of dialogue:
"In a ditch" [Admiringly] "A ditch! Where?"
[Without gesture] "Over there"
(Becket 2, Lines 1-3).
Estragon. In a ditch.
Vladimir. [admiringly] A ditch! Where?
Estragon. [Without gesture] Over there.
(Becket 2, Lines 1-3)