Tips on how to use quotes

This guest post is by Aman Basanti
of Ageofmarketing.com .
Quotes and dialogue are one of the most powerful
tools in the writer’s toolbox. They bring your writing
to life. They give your piece voice and make the
words jump off the page. As the famous writer
Stephen King once said, “What people say often
conveys their character to others in ways of which
they—the speakers—are completely unaware.”
Copyright Gino Santa Maria - Fotolia.com
While most bloggers understand the power of quotes,
they do not know how to format them properly. This
post is a crash course in how to use and punctuate
quotes in your writing.
Please note that there are exceptions to some of
these rules (depending on whether you use the
American standard or the UK standard). But for most
part if you follow these rules you will be fine.
How to capitalize a quote
All quotes should be capitalized, except for
fragments. If your quotes are not capitalised, your
readers may think it is a partial quote with the
ellipsis omitted.
Even when you quote someone mid-sentence, you
should capitalise the quote.
As George Santayana famously said, “Those who
cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
How to extend a quote over multiple
paragraphs
Say you want to break up the following quote into
two paragraphs:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview,
“don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards
just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease
with. Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a
small village, and wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote
about her mother being unable to get rid of three
daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of two daughters.”
Most people open and close the quote in each
paragraph:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview,
“don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards
just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease
with.”
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a
small village, and wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote
about her mother being unable to get rid of three
daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of two daughters.”
The correct way of doing this is not to close the
quote at the end of each paragraph, only the last
one:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview,
“don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards
just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease
with.
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a
small village, and wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote
about her mother being unable to get rid of three
daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being
unable to get rid of two daughters.”
How to edit a quote
It is amazing how many mistakes we make when
speaking. It is only when you transcribe the speech
to paper that you see these mistakes. As a writer
then, you are allowed to clean up quotes.
For example, consider the following quote:
“There’s a 1000 people in the hall and they all love
what I do.”
Clean it up so the verb agrees with the plural
“people.”
“There are 1000 people in the hall and they all love
what I do.”
The only exception is that if you want to make the
author sound uneducated that you leave the quote in
its original form.
How to add to a quote
If you need to add to a quote, do not simply include
the extra words in the quote. Use the “[ ]” marker to
show your additions.
As he said in an interview, “[The prosecution’s case]
was weaker than Columbus’s claim that China was
10,000 miles closer than was the accepted wisdom at
the time.”
How to include original errors without
making yourself look silly
Say you want to insert a quote that is written
incorrectly in its original form (whether by design or
by mistake) but you do not want your readers to
think that you are the source of the mistake.
The poster read, “Old skool remixes are the koolest.”
“Skool” and “koolest” are written incorrectly. To fix
this, simply include [sic] after each of the words.
The poster read, “Old skool [sic] remixes are the
koolest [sic].”
This lets the reader know that you are not the source
of the error.
How to handle a quote within a quote
If you want to insert a quote that has a quote inside
of it, use a pair of single quotation marks (‘ ’) to
enclose the sub-quote.
“The driver said to me, ‘Where would you like to go
today?’”
How to handle commas and periods in
your quotes
Do you place commas and periods (full stops)
outside or inside of the quotation marks? Answer: It
depends. The American standard is that commas and
periods go inside the quotation marks, regardless of
logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an
angry tenant.”
The English standard is that commas and periods
follow logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an
angry tenant”.
If you are unsure which standard to follow, include
the commas and periods inside the quotation marks.
How to handle question marks and
exclamation marks in your quotes
When it comes question marks (?) and exclamation
marks (!) both American and English standards follow
logic. So if the question is in the quote itself, place it
inside of the quotation marks. Otherwise place it
outside the quotation marks.
At that point he asked himself, “Is this worth the
effort?”
Do you agree with the adage, “Familiarity breeds
contempt”?
Conclusion
Follow these rules and your writing will look more
professional, helping you establish authority in the
mind of your blog readers.
If you know of other mistakes that I have not covered
here (I know there are a few more) please share them
with us in the comments section.
Aman Basanti writes about the psychology of buying
and teaches you how you can use the principles of
consumer psychology to boost your sales.
Visit www.Ageofmarketing.com/free-ebook to get his
new ebook—Marketing to the Pre-Historic Mind: How
the Hot New Science of Behavioural Economics Can
Help You Boost Your Sales —for FREE.