By Mary Morel
Quotation marks are used for direct speech, quotes, emphasis and titles of articles, songs and poems.
Use italics, not quotation marks, for the tiles of Acts of Parliaments (Australian usage), books, plays and movies.
Both single and double quotation marks are commonly used.
If you use single quotation marks for direct speech, switch to double quotation marks for quotes within quotes and emphasis, and vice versa.
“I wish I had invented Nike’s ‘Just do it’ slogan,” said Jane.
‘I wish I had invented Nike’s “Just do it” slogan,’ said Jane.
In press releases, you don’t need quotation marks at the end of a paragraph if the person is quoted again in the next paragraph.
“We were so close to winning,” he said. “We had a tail wind behind us.
“Then the wind dropped and we stalled.”
Online grammar programs
Learn more about punctuation with my online course An A to Z of Punctuation (A$39).
View the full list of Online Writing Training courses.