Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Punctuation

154b

Academic writing has developed punctuation conventions which are normally

observed when writing essays, papers, articles and books.

Quotations

For punctuating quotations, a variety of conventions exists, often depending on

individual publishers or journal styles, or the rules of individual institutions. Some

typical examples are given here.

No punctuation of the quoted words if indented

Longer quotations from people’s works often occupy their own paragraph and are

usually indented further than the current paragraph indentation. In this case, no

quotation marks are used.

Single or double quote marks within the body of the text

Although considerable variation exists, there is a tendency to prefer single

quotation marks, particularly when citing single words or short phrases. If double

quote marks are used, they are more likely to enclose longer quotations. Single

quotes may also be used to draw attention to a particular nuance of a word or an

unusual use of it, or to question a term or concept:

Communication in the ELT classroom is a highly complex, complicated and

elusive phenomenon: 

‘a problematic medium’ (Cazden, 1986: 423).

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Cambridge Grammar of English

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Pomerantz reports (1986: 227) that formulations 

“assert the strongest case in

anticipation of non-sympathetic hearing

” and hence are frequently used in

complaining.

Use of the colon to introduce quotations

The colon is often used to introduce quotations where they do not form a

continuous sentence with the author’s own text (see also the example beginning

‘Communication in the ELT classroom …’ above):

As Young reminded his audience

: In the beginning of the war we advertising

men had very little standing. 

Where the quotation forms a continuous sentence with the author’s own text, no

punctuation other than quote marks is necessary:

Robert Crassweller, Trujillo’s biographer, notes that America’s unfamiliarity

with the Dominican Republic is “a fact that must be included among the

curiosities of the region”.