quotation marks
The examples below are set off in order to avoid confusion over the use of single and double quotation marks.There are many ways to go wrong with quotation marks. They are often used ironically:She ran around with a bunch of “intellectuals.” The quotation marks around “intellectuals” indicate that the writer believes that these are in fact so-called intellectuals, not real intellectuals at all. The ironic use of quotation marks is very much overdone, and is usually a sign of laziness indicating that the writer has not bothered to find the precise word or expression necessary.Advertisers unfortunately tend to use quotation marks merely for emphasis: “FRESH” TOMATOES 59 CENTS A POUND The influence of the more common ironic usage tends to make the reader question whether these tomatoes are really fresh. Underlining, bold lettering, all caps—there are several less ambiguous ways to emphasize words than placing them between quotation marks.In American usage, single quotation marks are used normally only for quoted
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