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Author Topic: ", ' or nothing at all?  (Read 3301 times)

Offline Trulyscrumptious

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", ' or nothing at all?
« on: July 20, 2009, 03:43:18 PM »
When writing dialogue I use " ".  Should I use the same when writing someone's thoughts, or should I use '  '?  Or should I simply write the prose without any type of speech marks?  Or does it matter?

Thanks for your suggestions.
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Offline domenic

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2009, 05:15:23 PM »
Use single quotation marks ('  ') for quoted material inside a quotation.

"I knew you would say 'Not now,' " said Bill.
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Offline Trulyscrumptious

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2009, 05:20:40 PM »
Yes, that wasn't quite what I meant.  I meant something like:

'Well, thanks a lot,' thought Sam.  OR

"Well, thanks a lot," thought Sam.  OR

Well, thanks a lot, thought Sam.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2009, 05:22:16 PM by Trulyscrumptious »
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twisted wheel

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2009, 05:22:35 PM »
Quote from: domenic on July 20, 2009, 05:15:23 PM
Use single quotation marks ('  ') for quoted material inside a quotation.

"I knew you would say 'Not now,' " said Bill.

doesn't that depend on what country you're in? i use single quote marks for dialogue, as do many books in the UK.
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Offline Trulyscrumptious

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2009, 05:57:35 PM »
So you would use '  ' for all eventualities, speech, thoughts, everything?
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Offline pb

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2009, 07:49:35 PM »
do you ever get the feeling no-one's listening to you? ;D

i reckon that:

don't use marks at all to convey thoughts.

as i have been taught even italics shuld be used in extreme cases. the trick is to make it clear the thought is sam's thought without having to say it...not by punctuation but by writingtechnique.

that's hard right.

yu could try italics to start with
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Offline Don

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2009, 10:01:27 PM »
TS, I've gotten into the habit of writing thoughts in italics. It separates the thought from the rest and the reader seems to "get it."  :)
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Offline ink4hyre

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2009, 12:24:02 AM »
Thoughts should be written in italics—always.
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Offline bonitakale

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2009, 08:32:25 AM »
The trouble with italics -- which is, indeed, the most usual way thoughts are indicated -- is that when you need italics for stress within the thoughts, you're left with normal type, which doesn't 'read' as stressed. Also, the italics aren't usually as reader-friendly.

A lot of times you can get away with no change at all:

Good Lord, he thought, she really means it!

On the other hand, if you're doing interpolated speech and thought, you may need the italics:

"I'd love to see your china collection." Please shoot me now.

Her phone rang. "Darn." Thank God!

It's more a style thing than a strict right-and-wrong thing. You want to make things easy and clear for the reader.

Bonita





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Offline pb

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Re: ", ' or nothing at all?
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2009, 02:42:55 PM »
Quote from: bonitakale on July 22, 2009, 08:32:25 AM

"I'd love to see your china collection." Please shoot me now.


 :D

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