By DeAnna Cameron //
Some writers use single quotation marks and double quotation marks interchangeably when it comes to dialogue, considering them to be nothing more than a stylistic preference.
That’s not the case, however, and knowing the proper use of dialogue marks will help keep savvy readers’ attention on your work and not your punctuation.
So, when is the right time to use single quotation marks in dialogue?
In general, the solo marks should be used to quote something within another quote. Such as the following example from the Chicago Manual of Style:
“Don’t be absurd!” said Henry. “To say that ‘I mean what I say’ is the same as ‘I say what I mean’ is to be as confused as Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.”
Also, if you find yourself typing a single quote mark next to a double quote mark, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends adding a space between them to improve readability.
Keeping double quote marks and single quote marks in their proper places is one more way writers can be sure their work is as polished and professional as it can be.
DEANNA CAMERON is the founder and managing director of O.C. Writers. She’s also an award-winning hybrid author currently writing YA dark fantasy as D.D. Croix and an occasional copy editor who’s never met an Oxford comma she didn’t like. Learn more at www.DDCroix.com.
How true, how true! Yet to hear the Brits tell it, we in the U.S. have it all backwards. My many Penguin paperback novels (collected over a half-century) have their authors (from Austen to Zola) quoting their characters with single quotes — and doubling up for quotes within quotes. My comment, however, is a mere exercise in trivia, and it does not, nor should not undermine our sage editor’s remarks.
Thank you for sharing your insight into the British way of doing things!