Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong celebrated his birthday every fourth of July, even though he was born August 4 in New Orleans. The evolution of his gift — his jazz — was truly a rags-to-riches story.
Another jazz-trumpet great, John Birks (“Dizzy” Gillespie), was famous for introducing Bebop and for playing his unique-sounding bent-bell trumpet.
You may be scratching your head and saying,“What does this have to do with writing?”
Here it is: quotes are the jazz in writing. Quotation marks dangle conspicuously above the text, trumpeting their presence.
Double and single quote marks reveal who’s speaking. They enclose direct quotes.
“Hungry?” asked Anne.
“Sure, whacha got?”
“Pastrami on rye. Sound all right?”
“Your sister said, ‘If you go to Anne’s, she’ll offer you pastrami on rye’.”
“Well,” Anne said, laughing, “want some or not?”
Notice how each speaker requires a new paragraph and how what the sister said is enclosed in single quotation marks. (Alternate single and double quotation marks in dialogue.)
Let’s continue eavesdropping
“Sure,” said Joe. “Sounds great!
“Pastrami on rye. Man! You’re sister’s got you pegged.”
“I guess she does.”
Notice there are no closing quotation marks after “Sounds great!” That’s because Joe continues speaking in the next paragraph.
Thoughts may be put in italics.
He likes pastrami on rye ... and he’s smiling. He makes me uneasy.
Are you beginning to see how quotation marks are trumpeters?
They not only tell us who’s speaking; but also how something is said: with irony, sarcasm, doubt or skepticism.
His “smile” sent shivers up her back.
This story could be called Pastrami Gone Awry. (Quotation marks are omitted after called and known as.)
Also, the ? and ! go inside quotation marks only when they belong to the direct quote.
“Did she say ‘I understand’?” (The ? belongs to the speaker, not to the “I understand”.)
“No, she said, ‘Do you think I understand?’” (This time, the ? belongs to the quote.)
Quotation marks enclose titles of songs, poems, short stories, magazine articles, chapters, songs and television and radio programs. Larger works — a series, a newspaper, books and magazine titles — go in italics: the Yukon News.
A reader’s eyes are drawn to quotation marks. They speed up a passage, providing respite from narrative or prose.
Take into consideration who you are writing for when deciding when and how to use quotation marks. It’s important to learn the style of a publication and/or editor (the House Style).
James A. Michener said, “I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I’m one of the world’s great re-writers.”
Check out www.brainyquote.com.