Combination of Text and Dialogue Quote: Use “” double quotation marks around the entire quote (beginning and ending), but use ‘’ single quotes around the dialogue part(s) of the quote.

Example:

We get a clue to Diane’s critical personality from her attitude toward the works on display at the auction. The narrator reveals her negative thoughts with this description: “She looked back at the collection of photographs on auction in front of her. Bright and colourful, they depicted smiling children. ‘And why can’t there be at least one real piece of art here? Everything is so dull and uncreative!’”

Adding to a Quote: Use [] brackets to clarify meaning, especially the names of characters that are left out of the quote + Partial Quote: Use . . . ellipse to omit the beginning, middle, or end of a quote.

Example:

We get a clue to Diane’s critical personality from her attitude toward the works on display at the auction. The narrator reveals her negative thoughts with this description: “She [Diane] looked back at the collection of photographs on auction in front of her. Bright and colourful, they depicted smiling children. ‘And why can’t there be at least one real piece of art here? Everything is so dull and uncreative!’”.

Good writers get to the point directly by quoting only the words of the original that back up their point. Remove the unnecessary details and replace with an ellipse.

Example:

We get a clue to Diane’s critical personality by her reaction to the coloured photographs of happy children in the museum when she asks, “. . . ‘can’t there be at least one real piece of art here? Everything is so dull and uncreative!’”