The usage of inverted commas in British English

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I have learnt that single inverted commas in British English are used to:

1. mark off a word/phrase that is being discussed, e.g. The construction ‘have sth done’ is used to indicate that something has been done for the subject.
2. mark off the meaning of a word, e.g. kot means ‘cat’ in Polish.
3. mark off a quotation, e.g. She said, ‘He is not coming to the meeting.’

Is that true?

I also have a question: Is it acceptable in British English to use double quotation marks for a quotation? As in:

She said, “He is not coming to the meeting.”

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@Nat093,

Nat your q's are pertinent and I have long wondered about such. I use " ' " for the first quote because it's lower case so skips a keystroke

...except in instances where confusion might arise, as above

Incidentally the term, 'single inverted comma' has always bothered me since it seems to ignore the inevitable following single elevated comma

As regards you last q, we US'er's almost always do it that way; no pun intended

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@Nat093,

Nat093 wrote:

I have learnt that single inverted commas in British English are used to:

1. mark off a word/phrase that is being discussed, e.g. The construction ‘have sth done’ is used to indicate that something has been done for the subject.
2. mark off the meaning of a word, e.g. kot means ‘cat’ in Polish.
3. mark off a quotation, e.g. She said, ‘He is not coming to the meeting.’

Is that true?

Yes, it is true. You should note that many British English users (a) call inverted commas 'quote marks' or 'quotation marks', and {b) ignore the single ones altogether, using double marks in the American style. I myself was taught this way as a British child in the 1960s.

Nat093 wrote:

I also have a question: Is it acceptable in British English to use double quotation marks for a quotation? As in:

She said, “He is not coming to the meeting.”

Yes, that is acceptable. The important thing is to choose a style (British or American) and adhere to it throughout the piece of writing.

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@centrox,

Quote:

double marks in the American style

Aha!! Cen. I had long wondered. It's not everyday....

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Incidentally the term, 'single inverted comma' has always bothered me since it seems to ignore the inevitable following single elevated comma

The terms single and double are referring to the number of inverted or elevated commas (typesetter's terms) in each symbol thus

(I made 'em big so you can see)

Single inverted comma to start, and single elevated comma to end:

The Polish word for ‘cat’ is kot

Double inverted commas to start, and double elevated commas to end:

The French word for “eye” is “oeil”.
(These above are sometimes called 'smart quotes)

Of course, this is a typesetter's thing (glad to see people still know about this stuff) rather than grammar or usage, and these days a lot of people print their own stuff and seem to use what I call typewriter quotes (sometimes called 'dumb quotes'), which are easier to type, and which are identical at the start and end:

The Spanish word for 'leg' is 'pierna'.

The American word for "coriander" is "cilantro".

I was taught to remember "sixty-six, ninety-nine" in college. Dutch uses double commas on the line to start a quotation, and elevated ones to finish, called „low-high” quotation marks, although the American/British styles are driving them out these days.

The symbol used as the “left quote” in English is used as the right quote in Germany and Austria, and a different “low 9 quote” is used for the left instead. Of course, French uses the lovely guillemets - «comme ça»

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@centrox,

My mentor told me to use single quotes for terminology and definitions and double quotes for quotations. Incidentally, I often see such 'mixed' style in many academic papers.

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Let me ask you another question: If I use a word as a word, should I put an article before it?

That is, should I say marble museum or a marble museum? As in:

1. One compound may have different interpretations. For instance, marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head, but with the meaning ‘a museum where marble objects are displayed’, it will receive stress on the modifier.

2. One compound may have different interpretations. For instance, a marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head, but with the meaning ‘a museum where marble objects are displayed’, it will receive stress on the modifier.

Incidentally, is is necessary to write 'a museum built with marble', or I can omit the article and write 'museum built with marble'?

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@Nat093,

Nat093 wrote:

My mentor told me to use single quotes for terminology and definitions and double quotes for quotations. Incidentally, I often see such 'mixed' style in many academic papers.

You can do that.

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@Nat093,

Nat093 wrote:

Incidentally, is is necessary to write 'a museum built with marble', or I can omit the article and write 'museum built with marble'?

You can omit the articles.

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@centrox,

So which one is better?

1) For instance, a marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’...
2) For instance, marble museum as ‘museum built with marble’...

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Neither is "better".

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@centrox,

Ok, I see. Thank you for that.

Incidentally, is it correct to say:
a marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head
or I should say "interpreted as":
a marble museum interpreted as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head

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@centrox,

Cen thanks for that rundown, I shall copy it to Word and keep it there for future ref

Quote:

referring to the number of inverted or elevated commas

Indeed that was my assumption also. I had misread the OP to infer that the British typewriter didn't have the double, that it was necessary to hit the single twice

Quote:

British English users (a) call inverted commas 'quote marks' or 'quotation marks'

Yes but isn't that what we call'em too

I am intrigued and encouraged and perhaps somewhat puzzled, by the way, in the extent to which many an a2k'er will go in reply to another

Quote:

what I call typewriter quotes (sometimes called 'dumb quotes')

That's me all right, as I had mentioned above. So far--by actual count--has saved me 13, 446, 817 keystrokes at a2k alone

Thank you again

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@Nat093,

Quote:

1. .... different interpretations. .... marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’...., but ... where marble objects are displayed’.... stress on the modifier.

Yea Nat and again I am astounded by your persistence. Apparently you've come to just the right place as you will see from Cen's response to my own posting

Incidentally in spoken form one might misinterpret 'marble museum' as the name of the museum, in which case of course we'd cap the Marble

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@dalehileman,

I will repeat my question:

Is it correct to write:
1) a marble museum as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head
Or I should write "interpreted as":
2) a marble museum interpreted as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head

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Inserting 'interpreted as' or 'meaning' is better.

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
[Many] British English users (a) call inverted commas 'quote marks' or 'quotation marks'

Yes but isn't that what we call'em too

That's my point. What I am trying to get across is that some people imagine there is some kind of wall in the middle of the Atlantic, and everybody on one side does things the "American" way, and on the other side, everybody does them the "British" way. It isn't quite like that.

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@centrox,

Quote:

That's my point

Aha, quite so Cen. But I wonder how many of us migut use the single to avoid keystrokes

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@centrox,

Thank you very much for your guidance. I would be grateful if you could tell me whether the whole text sounds logical to you:

As stated by AuthorX (2006), context and pragmatic conditions under which a construction is pronounced can also affect the placement of stress. For instance, a marble museum interpreted as ‘a museum built with marble’ will be uttered with stress on the head, but with the meaning ‘a museum where marble objects are displayed’, it will receive stress on the modifier.

1 Reply

@Nat093,

Just to be sure we're all wit ya, Nat, please define 'head' and 'modifier'

Also I'm kinda confused about "...construction is pronounced...'

Help, anyone

1 Reply

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