Single vs double quotation marks

You're probably familiar with quotation marks — those double scoops in the air (“ ”), used before and after we relay something someone said or wrote, verbatim.

Double quotation marks examples

But what about their slimmer counterparts, the single quotation marks (‘ ’)? While single quotation marks aren’t used that frequently, they do serve an important purpose, and using them correctly can keep misunderstandings out of your writing.

Single quotation marks are punctuation marks that set off quotes inside larger quotes.

They look like two apostrophes on either side of a piece of text (‘like this’).

Like double quotation marks, single quotation marks can be curly (curved toward the text) or straight (up and down). It depends on the font you’re using.

Although you may not see single quotation marks as much as double quotation marks in American English, they still pop up now and then.

• The boy said, “Mr.

  Tucker asked me, ‘Is that your dog?’”

• “The Gettysburg Address starts off ‘Four score and seven years ago,’” began the h
  what is a single quote mark
  what is a single quote mark used for