The Portuguese language is full of grammatical rules that often leave speakers a little confused. One of the aspects of grammar that are commonly affected by inconvenient deviations is the punctuation. The punctuation rules are little evidenced in orality, since, when we speak, we use other resources to mark these signs, such as voice intonation and gestures. Thus, imagine our difficulty in correctly using in writing something that we rarely access to use in the language in the most recurrent form, which is speech. It is not an easy task.
It was with this in mind that the Brasil Escola team decided to produce this text. Our intention is to make the use cases of one of the most confusing punctuation marks in written language more accessible: the quotes (indicated by signs “”).
When correctly using the quotation marks:
Case 1: In citations, statements and transcripts.
→ Leonardo Sakamoto, journalist and political scientist, warns us about the danger of spreading lies over the internet. The author highlighted in his text that this scenario "maybe it is one of the biggest challenges we will have in the coming years."
→ I'm glad they never told me to be “gauche in my life”. (“gauche na vida”: expression taken from the poem “Sete Faces” by Carlos Drummond de Andrade).
→ As Marx declared: "Revolutions are the engine of history."
→ “Forgetting is a necessity. Life is a slate, on which fate, to write a new case, needs to erase the written case.” (Machado de Assis, testamentary grant, 1882.)
Case 2: When we want to highlight irony or highlight a word or expression used outside the usual context.
→ His children are "super-educated". At the end of the party, it was a hell of a fight. (irony)
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
→ In my college hours there is a “window”. (“window” in this case means that there is a free time between two other class times.)
Case 3: When we want to emphasize the meaning of some word or expression.
→ The “no” they heard was very clear.
Case 4: When we use foreign words, neologisms and slang.
→ The review team will deliver the “feedback” next week.
→ Those people are a bunch of “falsiane” (“falsiane” is a slang used to characterize people who are not trustworthy.).
→ Carlos was just “orange” in that scheme.
Case 5: When we indicate the name of literary or artistic works, titles of journalistic texts or of lectures and presentations.
→ Professor Wilton, author of “Everyday Transgressions,” will be here next month.
→ It was amazing to watch Munch's “The Scream” up close.
→ Yesterday I spent the whole day at the symposium. “The Parisian style and its influences on contemporary fashion” was a great talk.
Observation: in these cases, you can choose not to use the quotation marks and mark the words in Italic (when the letter is slightly slanted to the right). In this situation, the two features, italics and quotation marks, should not be used at the same time. you must choose only one.
- The work “Dom Casmurro”, by Machado de Assis, is a classic in Brazilian literature.
OR
- The work Dom Casmurro, by Machado de Assis, is a classic in Brazilian literature.
single quote
At quotation marks single signs are used to indicate portions of text that are already enclosed in quotation marks.
→ And Marina was amused by the situation: “That boy is a 'love' person.”
by Mariana Pacheco
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PACHECO, Mariana do Carmo. "What are quotes?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-sao-aspas.htm. Accessed on July 27, 2021.