quotation mark

/kwəˌteɪʃən ˈmɑrk/

Other forms: quotation marks

When you're writing, the punctuation that shows you're repeating someone else's words are quotation marks. They're also used in dialogue, like when a character says, "Run, there's a monster behind you!"

Quotation marks come in pairs, and as their name implies, they are mainly used to mark someone else's exact words. In writing, the first quotation mark indicates the beginning of the quote, and the second marks the end. "There's a spider on your hand!" my mom yelled when she saw my new pet tarantula. You can also use quotation marks for titles of short works, including short stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Definitions of quotation mark

1. noun

   a punctuation mark used to attribute the enclosed text to someone else
   synonyms: inverted comma, quote

   types:

   single quote

   a single quotation mark

   double quotes

   a pair of quotation marks

   scare quote

   the use of quotation marks to indicate that it is not the authors preferred terminology

   type of:

   punctuation, punctuation mark

   the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases