Using Quotation Marks

Donna Miller

Purpose:�����

 

To teach middle grades students to apply standard conventional writing� practices to their writing.�

 

Materials:

 

Black Board or Dry Erase Board

Dry Erase Markers

Quotation Rule Handout

 

Objectives:

 

Curriculum Competency Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

 

Sixth Grade

6.01 Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by:

 

�                      using a variety of sentence types correctly, punctuating them properly, and avoiding fragments and run-ons.

�                      demonstrating the different roles of the parts of speech in sentence construction.

 

NCTE/IRA Standard 4: Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

 

NCTE/IRA Standard 6: Students apply knowledge of language structure. Language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

 

Script:

 

NOTE:� Before I begin the lesson, I will list in chart form on the board the headings, �When do we Use Quotation Marks� and �Examples�.�

 

�When do you use quotation marks?�� I begin� listing their reasons on the board under the heading, �When do we use quotation marks?�� (All responses are listed)� After we list the reasons on the board, I will then pass out the handout entitled, �When is the Right Time for Quotation Marks.�� I will read through the sheet and explain each use.� Then we will go back to the board and look for the corresponding reason.� If it is listed, I ask a student to come and write an example.� As a class, we review it and make any necessary corrections.� We continue on through the handout following the same process �� looking for the reason on the board and asking a student to write an example of its proper use.� We then go back to see what is left on the board.� I ask, �What about this reason.� Do you think we use quotation marks for this?� �More than likely, it will be an incorrect response.� I ask, �What should be done here?�� For example, if the� reason listed is, �Place single quotation marks around the title of a book,� I then explain that a book is underlined, not quoted.� I then remove the reason from the chart and write the reason under a heading �Improper Uses of Quotation Marks� and list the proper convention to use followed by an example.� We continue in this mode until all reasons listed are addressed.� We then go back through the handout for any we did not list on the board.� I then list those on the board, and ask for a student to write an example.� We review handout once more by going back and reading through each step and example.� �Is there any questions?�� I address the questions and ask for input from the students.�


Using Quotation Marks

 

1. Double quotation marks enclose direct quotation:

 

�                      �What was Paris like in the Twenties?� our daughter asked.

�                      �Ladies and Gentlemen,� the Chief Usher said, �the President of the United States.�

�                      Robert Louis Stevenson said that �it is better to be a fool than to be dead.�

�                      When advised not to become a lawyer because the profession was already overcrowded, Daniel Webster replied, �There is always room at the top.�

 

2. Double quotation marks enclose words or phrases to clarify their meaning or use to indicate that they are being used in a special way:

 

�                      This was the border of what we often called �the West� or the Free World.�

�                      �The Windy City� is a name for Chicago.

 

3. Double quotation marks set off the translation of a foreign word or phrase:

 

�                      die Grenze, �the border.�

 

4. Double quotation marks set off the title of a series of books, of articles, or chapters in publications, of essays, of short stories, poems, of individual radio and television programs, of songs, and short musical pieces:

 

�                      a series of books: �The Horizon Concise History�

�                      an article: �On Relexive Verbs in English�

�                      a chapter in a book: Chapter Nine, �The Prince and the Peasant�

�                      a short story: Pushkin�s �The Queen of Spades�

�                      a poem: Tennyson�s �Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington�

�                      a television show: �The Bob Hope Special�

�                      a short musical piece: Schubert�s �Death and the Maiden�

 

5.� Single quotation marks enclose quotations within quotations:

 

�                      The blurb for the piece proclaimed, �Two years ago at Geneva, South Vietnam was virtually sold down the river to the Communists.� Today the spunky little...country is back on its own feet, thanks to �a mandarin in a sharkskin suit who�s upsetting the Red timetable.�� � Frances Fitzgerald

 

6.� Put commas and periods INSIDE quotation marks; put semicolons and colons OUTSIDE.� Other punctuation, such as exclamation points and question marks, should be put inside the closing quotation marks only if part of the quote.