Insurance Marketing Grammar Goofs: Quotation Marks

3 October, 2013

Want to write like an insurance copywriter? Learn the right way to use quotation marks with other punctuation.

The quotation mark has long tripped up insurance marketers, especially when combining them with other punctuation such as commas, semicolons and question marks. Whether punctuation goes inside or outside quote marks can be tricky. And, superfluous use of quote marks often causes reader confusion.

The key to remember is, in general, the period and the comma go inside quotation marks. The colon, semicolon and dash go outside of quotation marks. Here are a few guidelines for when using quotation marks.

Exact words

Quotation marks are mostly used to surround the exact words someone said or wrote. Here you can name the person being quoted in the beginning or the end of the quote, but the punctuation changes a bit.

  • “I have a dream,” said Martin Luther King Jr. – Note the comma goes before the quote mark.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream.” – Note the period is before the quote mark.
  • Quotes within quotes, though rare, get special treatment by alternating between double and single quote marks.
  • She said, “My favorite Martin Luther King Jr. saying is, ‘I have a dream.’” – Note there are no spaces between the comma, the single quote mark and the double quote mark.

Other punctuation

According to the AP Stylebook, the question mark and the exclamation point go within quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

  • I still can’t believe she said, “I quit”! – Here the exclamation point applies to the entire sentence.
  • At the end of the day, she said, “I quit!” – Here the exclamation point refers just to the quoted material.
  • Did she just say, “I am lost”? – Here the question mark refers to the entire sentence.
  • The lost driver said, “Where are we going?” – Here the question mark refers just to the quoted material.

Terms

You may also use quote marks around composition titles, such as books, movies and TV shows, as well as nicknames, to show irony and when introducing unfamiliar terms.

  • Composition title: “I Love Lucy” is a classic comedy show starring Lucille Ball.
  • Nickname: Richard “Dick” Nixon was the 37th president of the United States of America.
  • Irony: The “happy” couple argued day in and day out.
  • Unfamiliar term: Some say the government-sponsored program is a “boondoggle.”

Added emphasis

Avoid using quotation marks to add emphasis to particular words in your writing. It can cause reader confusion. Instead, choose stronger words or use italics to differentiate the word.

As always, we recommend that you keep an AP Style Guide by your side for easy reference when in doubt. For other insurance marketing writing tips, download our free report, 10 Insurance Marketing Mistakes Costing You Sales Right Now.