The Editor’s Manual
Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.
Enclose speech in quotation marks. Use a comma to separate quoted speech from the speaker, but don’t use a comma after a question mark or exclamation point. Use a new line for each speaker in a conversation.
US style is double quotes with single quotes reserved for quotes within quotes. British is single quotes with double quotes used for quotes within quotes. Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks in US style but not in British.
Double quotes enclose text in US style, with single quotes used only for quotes within quotes. Single quotes are the default in British style, with double quotes reserved for quotes within quotes.
Place quotation marks around direct speech or a quotation. Quotes may also enclose a word or a phrase used ironically or as itself. Quotation marks set off titles of shorter works (like a chapter, article, or poem).
Both a colon and an em dash introduce new information that explains or builds upon something that precedes it. The colon is quieter; the dash is more emphatic and dramatic.
In a cleft sentence, a single thought is split into two parts to emphasize a specific element by moving it from its normal position into a position of focus (e.g., “It was in 2002 I graduated”).
Anticipatory reference occurs when a pronoun appears before its antecedent, or the person or thing it refers to, in a sentence (“When she can, Rita runs marathons”).
An ellipsis is a series of three dots. In a quotation, an ellipsis signifies omitted words. In a dialogue or narrative, the ellipsis shows faltering speech or a pause.
Use em dashes to set off parenthetical statements, amplify a thought, begin a sentence with a list or a single noun and then provide an explanatory statement, or to mark asides, interruptions, and sudden turns in thought.