| 1. Single inverted commas are more common in British English for quotes. The punctuation should be inside the inverted commas when the quotation forms a complete sentence. | ‘It’s much too cold to swim,’ said Frank. He said, ‘I came by bus.’ ‘Can you remember what she asked you?’ Richard said. She went upstairs and shouted: ‘Time to get up!’ Did Father really say, ‘I would buy a motorbike when I had enough money’? (The question mark doesn’t form part of the quoted sentence.) |
| 2. Single inverted commas are used to mark off a word that is being discussed, or that’s being directly quoted from somewhere else, or round words when we use them as titles of certain works. We use inverted commas around a word or phrase that we want to make ‘special’ in some way. Note that when inverted commas are used around the title of a book, film, song etc, we may use ‘italics’ in print. | Inverted commas are also called ‘quotes’ or ‘quotation marks’. In the Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language, David Crystal argues that punctuation ‘plays a critical role in the modern writing system’. Have you ever read ‘War and Peace’? Note that sometimes we use ‘italics’ instead of inverted commas. Robinson Crusoe is the main character in the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. |
| 3. Double inverted commas are used inside single inverted commas for quotations inside quotations. | ‘His last words,’ said Albert, ‘were “Get the woman out of here”.’ The witness said, ‘I distinctly heard him say, “Don’t be late,” and then heard the door close.’ |