Hello everyone! I'm hoping you can help me. I was always taught to use two quotation marks when someone speaks. Example, below: "Today we're going to town," said Mom. but when I read novels, they often put it like this 'Today, we're going to town,' said Mom. Why only one quotation mark? I'm really baffled by this. Another thing I'm learning is that SAID is best to carry dialogue. After years of teachers telling me "said" is boring. Use other words like exclaimed, or replied, etc.
single marks are used in the uk... in the us, doubles are correct... and yes, 'said' is best in most cases, though a sprinkling of 'replied' and other dialog-specific words are ok and often used by the best writers... 'exclaimed' would be redundant, because if what was said was an exclamation, the ! would make that clear...
Thanks for your help. I find that interesting. I'm an American but have lived in the UK for the past ten years and I didn't know that. I never noticed it in books, until now, when I'm trying to write my own.
