Hello, I don't know if I'm posting this at the right place but I want to improve my punctuation skills. How do I use " and ' correctly. I know you use " when quoting someone. Is it Please click "accept" to continue. Please click 'accept' to continue. Is it Why did you say the word "hello" or why did you say the word "hello" And do I have to put quotation marks when talking about a name of something? I read a book called "Insert book title" or do I just leave the quotation marks out? Sorry if this is off topic but I want to improve my writing and punctuation skills.
You're looking for Word Mechanics. I'm sure one of the mods would be happy to move the thread for you. British and American English disagree. In American English, you're going to use " the vast majority of the time. Correct versions in bold. That one is a bit trickier. A short story (like "The Most Dangerous Game") goes in between quotes. A full-length book is usually italicized (Dracula by Bram Stoker) or underlined (Stalingrad by Antony Beevor). It varies by format, but in my own fiction I usually use italics for book titles.
If you are American, then the double quotation mark is used for: dialogue and quotes, referring to the title of a short work such as a short story or song, and for irony the same way you would make quotation marks with your fingers in conversation. Single quotation marks are used for dialogue or quotations within another dialogue or quotations. E.g. Jane said, "I was walking down the street when Fred said 'hello,' and we chatted for a while."
Don't know about all the other stuff but most books printed in the UK use single ' for dialogue. 'Hello,' John said. 'Piss off,' Jane replied. I suppose if there were any quotations in there it would be the exact opposite of @Friedrich Kugelschreiber's example. To be honest, though, I'd rather not see quotation marks at all if the quote is already part of dialogue. 'I said hello to Jane,' John said. 'And what did she say?' asked Mary. 'She told me to piss off,' he replied. I don't see how there can be any confusion there or why quotes would be needed, but maybe I'm re-writing the rules.
