As a business owner, knowing how to use quotation marks is essential, especially if you’re writing press releases or blog posts. Since you’ll most likely be quoting sources, you’ll need to use quotations to signify words spoken or written by a source.

The use of quotes is also a way to avoid plagiarism and misinterpreting a source’s input or comments. Quotations are used to describe the title of a piece of work, book, movie, TV show, and academic paper.

In digital writing, branding, and journalism, block quotations may also be used to break up text or emphasize an important statement.

How to use quotation marks

You might be surprised by how many times you’ll need to use quotation marks in various pieces of communication, from emails to articles.

Writing a direct quote

When interviewing a source for an article, blog, or general piece of content, you can use a direct quote to share their commentary verbatim.

Example: “Writing is my favorite pastime. It gives me great joy and allows me to express myself effectively,” Katrina shared.

Paraphrasing without direct quotes

Rather than using quotation marks, you can paraphrase a source’s contribution.

Example: When asked about her hobbies, Katrina raved about the personal benefit of writing as a therapeutic practice.

Proper grammar for quotation marks.

Quotations in writing can be tricky sometimes, it’s important to follow a few standard guidelines to be grammatically accurate.

In American English, the rule of thumb is to keep commas and periods within quotation marks. Other forms of punctuation are tricky.

Most of the time, semicolons, dashes, and colons will go outside of quotations. However, exclamation marks and question marks can be inside or outside. It’s best to ask for a style guide from your client or publication to be safe.

Capitalization: With quoting, capitalization varies depending on what part you are sharing. Generally speaking, the first word of a complete sentence should be capitalized. However, if you are only quoting part of the sentence, you do not need to capitalize.

Example:

A complete sentence: “I find writing to be fulfilling, challenging, and exciting,” Katrina shared.

Part of a sentence: When describing writing, Katrina described the practice as “fulfilling, challenging and exciting.”

Quotes within quotes: When a source is quoting what someone else told them or perhaps, sharing a book or movie they like, the rules of quotation shift. Rather than using a double quotation, you’ll use a single quotation.

Example: “The book that changed my perspective on writing was ‘The Artist’s Way’ since it challenged me to write every single day for many weeks,” Katrina explained OR “My middle school English teacher pulled me aside and said, ‘You know, if you love writing, you can make a career out of it.’ That moment was a turning point,” Katrina shared.

Now that you know how to use quotation marks properly, you can be more confident in your business communications.

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