Inverted Commas vs Quotation Marks: What to Use

If you have ever been told to "put that in inverted commas" and then saw an American colleague call the same marks "quotes", you have met one of English's smallest confusions. The marks are the same. The names are different, the habits differ from country to country, and the rules for the punctuation around them are not quite the same on each side of the Atlantic. This guide sorts out the names first, then the styles, and finally the small points that cause the most mistakes.

Three names for one thing

Inverted commas is the usual name in British English and in other Commonwealth countries. Wiktionary defines an inverted comma as a type of paired quotation mark, written ‘ ’ or “ ”, and the name comes from the mark's shape, which looks like a comma turned upside down. In American English the same marks are called quotation marks or, informally, quotes. Speech marks is a third name, often used in schools to teach children to mark the words people say.

So when someone asks for inverted commas, quotation marks or speech marks, they want the same thing: a pair of marks around the words that belong to somebody else, or that need to be set apart.

Single or double?

Which pair do you use? It depends on where you are writing for.

• United States and Canada: double quotation marks are the standard (“like this”).
• United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa: single marks are more usual (‘like this’), although double marks are also common, especially in newspapers.
• Australia: double marks are preferred for speech, except in government and corporate writing, which prefers single marks.
• New Zealand: both styles are in use.

The sensible rule is to follow your reader's convention, and then to be consistent. A publisher or employer may also have a house style that overrides the regional habit. If you are writing for a site, school or company, check its style guide before you decide. Wordabulary uses American spelling and punctuation, so its posts use double marks.

Quotations inside quotations

Sometimes one quotation sits inside another. In that case, the inner pair uses the opposite style from the outer pair. In American English, a speaker is reported like this:

• “She told me, ‘I will call you tomorrow,’ and then she left.”

In British English that usually looks the other way around:

• ‘She told me, “I will call you tomorrow,” and then she left.’

If you need a third level, the most common approach is to alternate between the two forms again. Three levels of quotation are hard for readers to follow, so if you reach a third, consider rewording the sentence instead.

Where does the punctuation go?

This is where American and British writers differ most, and it causes the most mistakes.

American style. Commas and periods almost always go inside the closing quotation mark, even when they are not part of the quotation:

• She called the plan “ambitious.”
• “I'll be there,” he said.

The reason is partly typographic: it gives closer spacing and a cleaner look on the page.

British style, sometimes called logical. Only punctuation that belongs to the quoted material goes inside the closing mark. Anything else goes outside:

• She called the plan ‘ambitious’.
• ‘I'll be there,’ he said.

In the second example the comma belongs to the quoted words, so it stays inside, but in the first the period belongs to the whole sentence, so it goes outside.

Both styles. Question marks, exclamation marks and semicolons go inside or outside depending on whether they belong to the quoted words. Did she say “yes”? puts the question mark outside because the whole sentence asks the question. She asked, “Are you coming?” puts it inside because the quoted words are the question.

What goes inside the marks

Quotation marks have a few different jobs, and knowing them helps you decide when to use the marks at all.

1. Direct speech and exact quotations. Words someone said or wrote: “The deadline has moved,” the manager said. If you report the same idea without the exact words, that is indirect speech and needs no marks: The manager said the deadline had moved.
2. Short titles. Many style guides put the titles of articles, poems, songs and episodes in quotation marks, and longer works such as books and films in italics.
3. Words used as words. When you talk about a word itself, as in The word “affect” is usually a verb, many writers use quotation marks or italics.
4. Scare quotes. Marks that signal irony, doubt or a non-standard meaning, as in He shared his “wisdom” with me. The marks tell the reader that the writer does not quite accept the word. In speech people show the same thing with air quotes, the gesture of two curled fingers on each hand.

Scare quotes are easy to overuse. A page full of them makes a writer sound sarcastic or unsure. Use one when the doubt is real, and use a more precise word the rest of the time. For more on the idea behind scare quotes, figurative language explains irony.

Common mistakes

• Mixing styles. Starting with single marks and switching to double halfway through a text looks careless. Pick one.
• Quoting what was not said. Marks promise that the words are exact. If you changed anything, remove the marks or show the change.
• Putting a period in the wrong place. In American English, a period after a quotation almost always goes inside the mark.
• Straight versus curly. Typed keyboard marks are straight (" and '), while typeset text uses curly ones (“ ” ‘ ’). Word processors usually convert them for you, but pasted text can mix the two.
• Using the apostrophe as a quote. The closing single mark and the apostrophe look the same (’), which is why single-mark style needs care with words such as don't.

Practice set

Add or correct the quotation marks, using American style.

1. He said I will meet you at noon.
2. She asked Are you coming to the meeting?
3. Did she really say it was fine?
4. Show that the writer doubts the word: She is an expert on every subject.
5. Which of these is a scare quote? She is a "great" cook. / She said, "Dinner is ready."
6. In British style, what is another name for quotation marks?

Answers: 1. He said, “I will meet you at noon.” 2. She asked, “Are you coming to the meeting?” 3. Did she really say it was “fine”? (the question mark stays outside, because the whole sentence asks it). 4. She is an “expert” on every subject (a scare quote). 5. The first: “great” signals doubt. 6. Inverted commas, or speech marks.

Making it stick

Punctuation rules stick when you see them often in the style you need. Read a few paragraphs of the kind of writing you want to do, whether it is a newspaper, a novel or a company report, and notice where the commas fall. Writing your own sentences from memory a day later, and checking them, is the same kind of practice that active recall recommends for words.

How Wordabulary fits in

Wordabulary finds your level with a placement assessment, then gives you practice and quizzes matched to it. Example sentences on every word page show how words behave in real sentences, including the punctuation around them.