Premise

This is a simple rule, but one we’ve seen used lots in writing over the years. The idea of quoting keywords might already be obvious to you, but maybe not. And that’s fine! What we mean is the act of putting quotations around words in order to identify their specific phrasal reference. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry. That’s why we wrote this page about it—which should make more sense as we look at some examples below.

Examples

Very simply, whenever you have a keyword that references something more specific, like a definition that audiences may be unfamiliar with, consider putting it in quotes, like:

• Probably needs quotes: A “ballpark” is place where baseball is played.
• Probably doesn’t need quotes: The ballpark has been used for all sorts of sports since 1920.

Or

• Probably needs quotes: In baseball, a “southpaw” is a cheeky way of identifying a left-handed pitcher.
• Probably doesn’t need quotes: The southpaw struck out the last 5 batters to end the game.

This rule works for longer phrases too. Like:

• Probably needs quotes: That was the very play that led to the term “little league homerun.”
• Probably doesn’t need quotes: I remember seeing ESPNs top 10 worst baseball plays of the year and being surprised that not one was a little league homerun.

Other Usage

Much like with our other rules here, there are always exceptions and variations. The main one would be a situation where you want to add tone or emphasis. But unlike how you do this with italics in order to elicit an array of potential different tonal effects, you can save quoting words for adding a specific note of sarcasm to your line. For example:

• I told you that you mere my “favorite” child.
• She saved the “best” for last.

In both of these instances above, the quoted words add a not of sarcasm. I.e., that you actually mean the opposite of what you said.

Further Considerations

• Obviously, quotes are used for citing other people speaking or writing too (and most commonly). As a side note, keep in mind that when you use quote within quotes, you change the quotes within quote to single quotes. While this rule might sound confusion, trust us when we say it ends up looking clearer for audiences. Just take a look at these two examples, and think which one is easier to read:
  • She said that “We saw the man, who told us “Get jobs, you bums!””
  • She said that “We saw the man, who told us ‘Get jobs, you bums!'”