CHAPTER XI

QUOTATION-MARKS

Quotation-marks are either single or double. The former consist of one inverted comma and one apostrophe; the latter, of two inverted commas and two apostrophes.

The double marks are very generally used in this country for a single quotation; but some writers and some printing-offices follow the English style of using the single marks.

Quotation-marks are used by a writer to identify as the exact language of another writer a word or group of words which the first writer uses within his own language.

They are sometimes used by a writer to enclose a quotation from his own printed or spoken language. The fact that such quoted matter is his own language is practically always shown by the text.

If the quoted language contains a quotation, such quotation is identified by the quotation-marks (single or double) not used for the main quotation.

If the subordinate quotation begins the main quotation, three marks (one double and one single) are used at the beginning; if the subordinate ends the main, three marks are also used at the close.

Illustrations of the three uses above defined are found in the following examples:

104. In appreciation of Mrs. George Ripley, Mr. Frothingham says, “Theodore Parker made the following entry in his journal: ‘Mrs. Ripley gave me a tacit rebuke for not shrieking at wrongs, and spoke of the danger of losing our humanity in abstractions.’”

If a quotation consists of two or more paragraphs appearing _consecutively_ in the work quoted from, quotation-marks are used only at the beginning of each paragraph and at the end of the last one. If two or more paragraphs are printed consecutively in the quotation, but do not appear consecutively in the work quoted from, each paragraph is identified as a whole by marks at its beginning and end.

If only a part of a sentence or of a paragraph is quoted, and it is desirable to show this fact, the omitted part or parts are indicated by periods or stars. If such marks of omission come at the beginning or at the end of the quoted matter, the marks of quotation are so placed as to include them.

If the quoted matter is a letter or document with place-and date-lines preceding it, and with a complimentary closing-line and one or more signatures following it, each of such lines and names is treated as a paragraph, and takes its proper marks before or after it, or both.

It is much better practice in printing to put such matter in smaller type than the type of the main text; or, if in type-written manuscript, to identify it by less space between its lines than is used between the lines preceding and following it, or by indenting the lines of the quotation more than the regular paragraph indention. Quotations thus identified need no quotation-marks.

It was formerly the practice to put quotation marks at the beginning of every line of a quotation however long; and occasionally this style is now followed, especially in legal documents.

The practice in many newspaper offices furnishes, we think, a satisfactory solution of the problem. When quoted matter is given close grammatical relation to the text, the marks of quotation are used before the first word of the quotation and before each line, with the proper closing marks at the end of the quotation. Such a quotation should not exceed ten or twelve lines in length. Larger quotations should be put in smaller type, and without the marks. Even short ones may be so treated.

OTHER USES OF QUOTATION-MARKS

A word or group of words is sometimes enclosed in quotation-marks to give to such word or group of words a meaning somewhat different from its usual meaning. This use of the marks has a very wide range; and it is difficult to define the full scope of it. Its significance will appear in illustrative examples:

105. A drop-folio is generally used on a page on which a chapter begins or on a page containing an illustration extending to its top.

105-1. A “drop-folio” is a page-number that is put at the bottom of the page.

In No. 105-1 “drop-folio” is singled out as an uncommon word, as if quoted; and this fact is shown by the marks. In No. 105 it is used as is any other word in the sentence.

106. He received “big wages,” $1.00 a day.

In No. 106 we put “big wages” in quotation-marks to imply that some one has used this familiar expression in a boastful way without telling the whole truth, which is exposed in the small sum that follows.

107. She was very fond of “five-o’clocks.”

In No. 107 the writer implies that the afternoon teas of society are frivolous things. This is perhaps a purely conventional use of the marks, without an underlying reason for the meaning thus given.

In the next sentence the writer groups, by means of the marks, certain words into a title, which are identified by quotation-marks. Italics would answer the same purpose; but the former marks are preferred:

108. This fundamental work might be called, “An Introduction to the Study of Literature”; or, “The Elements of Literature.”

The above sentence is quoted from an educational magazine of high standing, printed by a Press that gives much attention to style. The use of the semicolon and comma in the sentence is the conventional style of punctuating compound book-titles, as illustrated in Sentence 96. But the quotation-marks show that this is not a compound title, but alternative titles. The real meaning would be more clearly expressed by the use of “either” after “called”; and this shows that the punctuation is wrong. Either the semicolon and the comma or the quotation-marks must be omitted. The meaning to be conveyed will determine which marks to omit.

If the semicolon and comma are not the proper marks here, how shall we determine what mark, if any, should precede “or”? Simply by the degree of liability to error in making a wrong combination of words at this point. The quotation-marks before “or” close the first quotation, making a complete group of words; and the quotation-marks following “or” open a new group of words. As there is here no liability on the part of the reader to make a wrong grouping out of some words that precede and some that follow “or,” a mark before “or” can serve no purpose. Each group is bound up in its own marks of quotation, and is a name; and the two names are alternatives. With this interpretation of the meaning of the language as determined by the quotation-marks alone, the sentence would be punctuated as follows:

108-1. This fundamental work might be called, “An Introduction to the Study of Literature” or “The Elements of Literature.”

The use of the comma after “called” in the above sentence is purely conventional. It is somewhat like the use of the comma before “that” following “is,” as treated elsewhere. Or, we may say, it is a purely rhetorical use, as the reading of the somewhat long title seems to require a pause after “called,” in order to identify the group to follow. The omission of the comma could not be called poor punctuation.

Quotation-marks are used in the report of a conversation or dialogue in which the names of the speakers are not printed at the beginning of their respective remarks, as is done in the printing of a drama. However, some writers do not use quotation-marks for this purpose, and none are used in the frequent conversations in the Bible.

If the language of a quotation is broken off by a writer for the purpose of inserting words not a part of the quotation, each of the two parts into which the quoted matter is thus broken, is enclosed in quotation-marks:

109. “We shall start,” he said, “at early dawn.”

Words to which special attention is called, otherwise than for emphasis, are put in quotation-marks:

110. The words “virile,” “psychological,” “strenuous,” etc., are useful words in their proper places, but weak words when out of place.

The titles of books, plays, songs, poems, and the like, when referred to in one’s text, are put in quotation-marks by some writers and in italics by others. The former seems to be the more common usage. Mr. De Vinne says “italic is preferred by bookish men.” Most writers make an exception to the above rule in the case of the titles of well-known books.

The same rule applies to periodicals, including transactions and proceedings issued, at least, quarterly. In most journal offices there is a well-established convention: the journal puts in italics the name of another periodical, and in caps and small caps its own name appearing in its own text.

When the closing marks of quotation follow a word or group of words that is also followed by another mark of punctuation, the positions of the two marks are determined by the relation such other mark of punctuation bears to the quoted matter. If it belongs to, and is therefore required by, the quoted matter, it goes within the quotation-marks. The comma and the period always precede the final quotation-marks, and do so simply because they appear better thus arranged on the printed page. The semicolon, the colon, the interrogation-point, and the exclamation-point follow or precede the closing marks of quotation according to their relation to the quoted matter. The comma and period also precede marks of reference (superior figures, stars, etc.) and the degree mark, while the semicolon, colon, the interrogation-point, and the exclamation-point follow them. On page 3, above, a superior figure follows a colon. It does so because it refers to the colon, not to what precedes the colon.

EXAMPLES

1. “Movies” showing war scenes that arouse the martial spirit are objectionable to all pacifists.

The above sentence contains two words treated as they are found today in practically all periodicals and books using them. The words _movies_ and _pacifists_ (also written _pacificists_) are newcomers in English, and are not found in any dictionary. Why is the former put in quotation-marks and the latter not? It is probably because all editors recognize “movies” as a word of doubtful propriety, and therefore give it the conventional marks. On the other hand, the word “pacifist,” whose meaning is so apparent and whose form is so regular, has not been regarded as of doubtful propriety, generally recognized as a stranger, and so has been accepted without the introduction of the conventional marks of quotation.

3. Portrait of Major-General Henry Dearborn. By Gilbert Stuart.

4. “Our Boatman.” By John La Farge.

The above legends (inscriptions) appear under two pictures in a well-edited current magazine. Why does the title in No. 4 take marks of quotation, while that in No. 3 does not?

Two reasons may be given for the use of the marks in No. 4, while one reason is sufficient for their absence in No. 3. “Our Boatman” is the title of the painting, and is treated as a quotation, and therefore requires the quotation-marks. Secondly, the words “Our Boatman” are not used in their literal sense as descriptive of a man who acts as our boatman,—that is, the picture is not a photograph of John Smith, our boatman, but is an idealization of a man of his class. To give the words other than a literal meaning, the marks are used.

In No. 3 the language is taken in its literal meaning, and even may be that of the editor of the magazine, thus requiring no marks. Probably no painter would put upon his canvas “A Portrait of John Smith.”

5. “Justice,” said Webster, “is the great interest of man on earth”; and Mr. Root laid it down as a rule, when Secretary of State, that we should not only observe justice in our relations, but that we should be just.

6. Professor John Finley, in “The French in the Heart of America,” insists, with pardonable enthusiasm, that we got our finest democratic ideals from the French settlers in the Mississippi Valley, and that here was nourished

a national democracy founded on the equalities, the freedoms, and the fraternities of the frontier so vital, so powerful, that it became the dominant nationalistic force in a continent-wide republic.