Jennifer: Hello everybody! Welcome back to my channel
Sparkle English where I teach you all about how to speak in
English, how to write in English, and how to improve your
level of English. A lot of my subscribers have found me
because they have watched my tutorials on my YouTube channel,
Jennifer Marie VO where I teach you how to make money online and
particularly how to make money as a transcriptionist. Well in
order to be a good transcriptionist, you need to
have excellent punctuation skills. And being able to
properly use quotation marks is essential in becoming a good
transcriptionist or a good writer. So today, I'm going to
go over quotation marks rules. And these are English writing
essentials. things you need to know if you want to be an
excellent writer in English. Make sure to subscribe to my
channel if you haven't already. I also recommend you grab a pen
or a piece of paper and take some notes as we go along. We
will also have a little practice session so make sure to pause
the video so you can answer the questions on your pen and paper
and follow along with us. So let's get started. This is our
introduction to quotation marks. In this lesson, we are going to
discuss the American way of using quotation marks in written
English. Now if you want to learn how to use quotation marks
because you want to become a transcriptionist, most of the
transcription platforms use the American way unless you are
working with an English or British transcription company.
One of the most important ways we use quotations is to quote
someone's words. And obviously these right here are quotation
marks, double quotation marks. To quote something means to
repeat exactly what someone said. So let's get started with
the first rule. Quotation marks rule one, use double quotation
marks to indicate a direct word for word quotation. Example: "I
love horror movies," she said. "Do you want to go for dinner
tomorrow night?" Mary asked. "I have a business meeting next
Friday," John answered. So I love horror movies is exactly
what this person said. So we use quotation marks to indicate a
direct word for word quotation. And I want you to pay attention
where we are using them. We're using them here at the beginning
and at the end, after the comma, but we will discuss that in a
little bit. Okay, so where do you need to place quotation
marks in these sentences? I'm going to Venice next month, Sara
said, Does Carly work in your department? Tina asked. So I
want you to look at these sentences and determine what do
you think the direct sentence or the direct speech was that we
are quoting? In this first example? I'm going to Venice
next month. So we're going to put quotations at the beginning.
And after the comma going to Venice next month, Sarah said,
Does Carly work in your department? Tina asked again at
the beginning of the quotation, and after the question mark.
Okay, so Rule number two. And this is Rule 2A: Always ca
italize the first word in a co plete quotation. Examples. Ro
screamed, Don't lie to me. Th judge said you are guilty as ch
rged. I want you to pay at ention. The D is capitalized in
don't and the Y is ca italized in the phrase you ar
guilty as charged. And this is because we always have to ca
italize the first word in a co plete quotation. So this is a fu
l sentence a full quotation. Do 't lie to me. You are guilty as
charged. It's not part of a qu tation. It is a complete qu
tation. So we have to begin wi h a capital letter. Rule 2b: I
a direct quotation is inte rupted mid sentence, do not capi
alize the second part of the uotation. Unless of course, the
econd part of the quotation begi s with a word that you alwa
s have to capitalize like
Unknown: I
Jennifer: or the name of a person. For example, John.
Examples: I didn't see any celebrities in Los Angeles, Mr.
Smith said, but I still had a good time. This is a direct
quotation, but it's interrupted mid sentence because in the
middle of the sentence, we're saying Mr. Smith said. So,
because of this, we do not have to capitalize the B because this
is the first part of the quotation and this is the second
part of the quotation and because of that, we do not have
to capitalize the B and but we just keep it as a lowercase
letter. Okay, so let's do some practice. Where do you need to
place quotation marks and caps letters in these sentences? The
teacher asked, Who knows the answer to this question. He
declared, we are canceling the meeting. Why, she asked, are you
so rude? So I want you to look at these and following the rules
we just learned? Where do you put quotation marks and capital
letters? Someone the first sentence, the teacher asked, Who
knows the answer to this question, we're going to put the
quotation marks before the W. And we have to capitalize the
double you've to make this big, because this is a full, complete
quotation. And then we put quotation marks at the end after
the question mark. In the next sentence, he declared, we are
canceling the meeting. Again, quotation marks before the W and
we capitalize the W because it's the beginning of a full
quotation, and then quotation marks after the period at the
end. And the last one is a bit more difficult. Why, she asked
are you so rude? Again, th beginning of this, let's look a
where is the full quotation? Th full quotation is Why are you s
rude and this part is interrupting it. So we have to
put quotations before the w, wh ? And then close it after t
e comma, she aske
Double quotation marks, are you so rude? Do we have to
capitalize the a in are? No. because this is the first part
of the quotation, and this is the second part. So we do not
need to capitalize the A, because this all goes together
as one quotation. Now for rule three, use commas to introduce
or interrupt direct quotations. So we've been doing this the
whole time. He yelled, comma, get out of my way. Where comma
he asked, comma is the party tomorrow. I need to borrow your
car. Comma, my sister said, comma, so I can go to my
appointment. In the first example, we are introducing a
direct quotation, so we have to put the comma he yelled, comma,
get out of my way. And in the second and third example, we're
using the commas because we are interrupting direct quotations
where comma he asked comma is the party tomorrow. Okay, so
let's do a practice. Where do you need to place commas and
quotation marks in these sentences? The woman said, I'm
tired. The rabbit the main complaint is always eating my
plants. So in the first one, the woman said, put a comma, quote,
and commas always go inside q otation marks. Again, this is
or American English. In British nglish, it's outside the quot
tion marks. But if you are want ng to learn these rules because
ou're a transcri tionist, you will probably
be following American rules fr m almost every single transcri
tion company. Examples The mana er said, everyone is getting
Christmas bonus. Again, y u can notice here, the period i
inside the quotation mark the cream again, comma whisper,
the shop assistant is on the t ird shelf. So the commas a
e inside the quotation marks an the periods as well. Okay, fo
rule number five, place a uestion mark or exclamat
on mark within closing quotatio marks if the punctuat
on applies to the quotatio itself. Place the punctuat
on outside the closing quotatio marks if the punctuat
on applies to the whole sentence Now this might seem a little b
t confusing. What we're trying t say is when do you know if
ou have to put the quotatio mark after the question
mark, or before the question mark? And this depends on the c
ntext and depends on the quot tion itself. For example,
Jane asked, where's the library? Where is the library? We have
o put a question mark because his quotation is a question
and we don't need to put a pe iod after it. We just finish i
with the quotation mark. We re not going To put the question
mark after the quotatio , because this complete phrase i
not a question, the only que tion is the inside the quotatio
, where is the library? So for t is one, we have to put it insid
the quotation mark. And the ext example, jack said, I hate y
u. Here, we put the exclamat on mark inside the quotatio
because the exclamat on mark applies to the quotatio
itself. Okay. Now for the last one, do you agree with the phra
e Time is money? Time is money is not a question. Time is money
It's not a question. So the q estion mark does not apply to
this quote, the question mark is on the outside, because
he full phrase is a question Do you agree with the phrase T
me is money? Question mark? Th s question mark relates to the e
tire sentence that doesn't elate to the quotation. So we ha
e to put it outside of the quot tion. Okay. Let's do some pra
tice, because this one is a lit le more difficult. So where do
you need to place quotatio marks in these sentence
? Joe? question. Are you hung y right now? Did you hear Cam
ron say to his parents, you're t e worst parents ever.
So I want you to look at these both right now, and try to
figure out which of these has a quotation That is a question.
The first one Joe questioned? Are you hungry right now? This
is a complete question. What Joe says, is a question. So we have
to put the quotation marks around. Are you hungry right
now? And after the question mark, because we are quoting a
question. And the second one, did you hear Cameron say to his
parents, you're the worst parents ever? You're the worst
parents ever is not a question. It's a statement. So this
question mark applies to the entire sentence. So we have to
put the quotation marks before you're, you're the worst parents
ever. Did you hear Cameron say to his parents, you're the worst
parents ever? Because this question mark is about the
entire phrase. It doesn't relate to the quotation itself. It
relates to the entire sentence, the entire phrase. Okay, and our
last rule that we're going to discuss, is use single question
marks for quotations within quotations. I spoke to George
yesterday and he said, Did you talk to Jane, she told me, I am
quitting my job. So you can see here, the quotation we are
referring to is this, did you talk to Jane, she told me I am
quitting my job. This is what George said. But George is also
quoting someone within his quote. So to separate this, we
have to use single quotation marks. So we have double, which
is what we normally will use. And then if you're quoting
someone within that, you'd have to use a single. So you can see
here, did you talk to Jane, she told me, I am quitting my job.
So you can see here we have a single quotation at the
beginning and a single at the end, followed by two doubles.
Now, this is not very typical, you will not see this very
often. And if you are doing some sort of transcription job, it's
very unlikely you're going to see something like this, but
it's just good to be aware of what you would do if you saw
something like this. Okay, so that completes my lesson on how
to use quotation marks in American English. Make sure to
subscribe to my channel. For more ESL videos like this one, I
will be releasing more English writing essentials videos on how
to use hyphens and dashes and periods and question marks and
all sorts of other things that you need to know to improve your
level of English and to improve your English writing skills. And
if you have any questions, you can share them in the comments
as well. Thank you once again for watching, and I will see you
in my next video.