Use of Quotes

Introducing and Integrating Quotes

You should never have a quotation standing alone as a complete sentence, or, worse, as an incomplete sentence in your writing. The quotation will seem disconnected from your own thoughts and from the flow of your sentences. Ways to integrate quotations properly into your own sentences, with correct use of punctuation, are explained below.

There four primary ways to integrate quotations:

1. Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon.

Example: Thoreau's philosophy might be summed up best by his repeated request for people to ignore the insignificant details of life: "Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"

Example: Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in."

This is an easy rule to remember: if you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, you need a colon after the sentence. Be careful not to confuse a colon (:) with a semicolon (;). Using a comma in this situation will most likely create a comma splice, one of the serious sentence-boundary errors.

2. Use an introductory or signal phrase with a comma.

Example: Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress when he says, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

Example: Thoreau asks, "Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?"

Example: According to Thoreau, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

You should use a comma to separate your own words from the quotation when your introductory or explanatory phrase ends with a verb such as "says," "said," "thinks," "believes," "pondered," "recalls," "questions," and "asks" (and many more). You should also use a comma when you introduce a quotation with a phrase such as "According to Thoreau."

3. Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your own words and the words you are quoting.

Example: Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress when he says that "[w]e do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

Example: Thoreau argues that "shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous."

Example: According to Thoreau, people are too often "thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails."

Notice that the word "that" is used in some of the examples above, and when it is used as it is in the examples, "that" replaces the comma which would be necessary without "that" in the sentence. You usually have a choice, then, when you begin a sentence with a phrase such as "Thoreau says." You either can add a comma after "says" (Thoreau says, "quotation") or you can add the word "that" with no comma (Thoreau says that "quotation.")

4. Use short quotations as part of your own sentence.

Example: In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau states that his retreat to the woods around Walden Pond was motivated by his desire "to live deliberately" and to face only "the essential facts of life."

Example: Thoreau argues that people blindly accept "shams and delusions" as the "soundest truths," while regarding reality as "fabulous."

Example: Although Thoreau "drink[s] at" the stream of Time, he can "detect how shallow it is."

When you integrate quotations in this way, you do not use any special punctuation. Instead, you should punctuate the sentence just as you would if all of the words were your own. No punctuation is needed in the sentences above in part because the sentences do not follow the pattern explained under number 1 and 2 above: there is not a complete sentence in front of the quotations, and a word such as "says," "said," or "asks" does not appear directly in front of the quoted words.

All of the methods above for integrating quotations are correct, but you should avoid relying too much on just one method. You should instead use a variety of methods.

Notice the Punctuation!

Note that there are only two punctuation marks that are used to introduce quotations: the comma and the colon (:). Note that a semicolon (;) is not used to introduce quotations.

Notice as well the punctuation of the sentences above in relation to the quotations. If there are no parenthetical citations in the sentences (no author's name and page number in parentheses), the commas and periods go inside the final quotation mark ("like this."). For whatever reason, this is the way we do it in America. In England, though, the commas and periods go outside of the final punctuation mark.

Semicolons and colons go outside of the final quotation mark ("like this";).

Question marks and exclamation points go outside of the final quotation mark if the punctuation mark is part of your sentence--your question or your exclamation ("like this"?). Those marks go inside of the final quotation mark if they are a part of the original--the writer's question or exclamation ("like this!").

The Proper Punctuation: Keeping it Simple

Remembering just a few simple rules can help you use the correct punctuation as you introduce quotations. There are some exceptions to the rules below, but they should help you use the correct punctuation with quotations most of the time.

Rule 1: Complete sentence: "quotation." (If you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, use a colon (:) just before the quotation.)
Rule 2: Someone says, "quotation." (If the word just before the quotation is a verb indicating someone uttering the quoted words, use a comma. Examples include the words "says," "said," "states," "asks," and "yells." But remember that there is no punctuation if the word "that" comes just before the quotation, as in "the narrator says that.")
Rule 3: If Rules 1 and 2 do not apply, do not use any punctuation between your words and the quoted words.

And remember that a semicolon (;) never is used to introduce quotations.

These rules oversimplify the use of punctuation with quotations but applying just these few rules should help you use the correct punctuation about 90 percent of time.

Editing Direct Quotations

If you need to change the content of a quotation, use the following proper methods:

Brackets: If you need to change or add a word/phrase, signal to the reader that you have done so by putting the added or edited words in brackets [ ] .

For example:

William Johnson stated, “Most students agree that [they] have trouble studying, but community college students have it tough. They often have to worry about taking care of their families and working full-time as well.”

Ellipses: If you wish to leave words out of a quotation, you can do that by including an ellipsis . . . .

An ellipsis shows the reader that you have left out words, phrases, or complete sentences. Three ellipses indicate that just a few words were left out; four means that a sentence or more was omitted.

For example:

William Johnson stated, “Most students agree that [they] have trouble studying . . . [because] they often have to worry about taking care of their families and working full-time as well.

Sandwiching Quotes

It is not enough to simply drop a quotation into your essay. There is a certain format that you should follow to ensure that your reader understands your quotation and that it does not distract from the flow of your own writing. Each quotation should be integrated using “the quotation sandwich.” First, you have to introduce the

quotation. This is your top piece of bread. Second, use the quotation. This is the “good stuff” in the middle of your sandwich. Third, analyze the quotation. This is your bottom piece of bread.

Finally, don’t just throw in a quotation if it makes the grammar incorrect. You should not write, for instance, Gilgamesh told Siduri, after seeing her, that she should "let me not see the death which I ever dread." Instead, try one of these three options:

Gilgamesh told Siduri, "Now that I have seen your face, let me not see death which I ever dread."

Gilgamesh told Siduri, after seeing her, that she should not let him "see the death" that he feared so much.

Gilgamesh implores Siduri, after gazing at her, to help him confront his mortality: "[L]et me not see the death which I ever dread."

Blending Quotations by Colin Welch