The quotation marks (“ ”) represent a graphic resource used in pairs in the production of texts, one serving to open and the other to close the speech.
It is, therefore, a punctuation mark used in textual production to emphasize words or expressions, in addition to indicating citations of some text.
Quote Types
- Single quote (‘’): we use this type when the double quotation mark is already being used, for example: "The girl was very happy at the congress to present the 'New Thesis' on the controversial topic of abortion."
- Double Quotes (“ ”): used in direct speeches to emphasize something in the text, or to quote some work, for example: Manuela preferred to say straight away what she was thinking: “I don't like the course anymore”.
Examples: When to Use Quotation Marks?
Below are some examples of the use of quotation marks:
Emphasize Speeches
To emphasize words or expressions, quotes are used, for example: What “God” is this? Another case of using quotation marks is when the announcer intends to make fun of something, for example:
After finding the broken vase, my mother said: Very “beautiful” what you did.
Direct Quotes
Used to quote a speech given by the author himself, the quotation marks are used before and after the speech:
According to the President of the Republic: “We will fight the crisis”.
Note that the quotation marks come to identify the words spoken by the president. When direct quotes are written digitally, we can add italics.
foreignism
Foreignism (also called foreign neologism) is the very frequent use of words languages that are sometimes added to the dictionary depending on usage, for example, show, chat, web, among others.
Generally, when we use foreign words in the text, we must put quotation marks or when we type on the computer, italics, for example:
We look forward to the “feedback" From the teacher.
Neologism
When a word is created within a text, for example, a new concept, it appears in quotation marks, in order to demonstrate that that term was created, being, therefore, a word that is still non-existent in dictionaries, for example:
Tonight we are going to “caetanear” a lot at Caetano Veloso's show.
Slang
When in textual production popular expressions, called slang, are used, quotation marks are used, for example:
Cibele said that it “did not roll” ticket sales. (The highlighted expression means in denoting language that it did not happen.)
Quote Works
When we want to cite in the text the name of a work, article, dissertations, theses, book chapters, movies, among others, we must use quotation marks (and also, italics), for example:
THE "Gioconda” is Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous work; The author reports in his article entitled “Memories of a Soldier”, his life during the war.
Stay tuned!
One of the biggest doubts in the use of quotation marks is referring to the use before or after the period. Therefore, note that there are two ways to use the quotation marks, namely:
The period before the closing of the quotation marks, when the sentence is complete: "We know that we are looking for happiness in life."
The period after the closing of the quotation marks when the speech is not complete: “We know that we are looking for happiness in life (...)”.
In addition, commas are not enclosed in quotation marks, for example: “The President's speech”, Lula da Silva, emphasized the theme of sustainable development.
Fun Facts: Did you know?
We use the model of quotes called smart quotes (“a”) or curly quotes.
However, there are other types of representing quotes: German quotes („a”); French quotation marks ("a"), called angle quotation marks; and the Japanese quotes (「a」)