Quotation Marks for Dialogue

[Tawariell]

So I've noticed that some writers like to use single quotation marks for their dialogues, while others use double... I read this had something to do with English and American authors.

I used to do single when I was very young, but for whatever reason changed it all to double... (I saw someone using double and I assumed I was doing it wrong by using single... turns out I wasn't hehe).

Opinions on this? Which one do you use/prefer? Why?

Example:
"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?" (double)
'Just... tired.' (single)

 

[Droflet]

Double is the industry standard. Publishers and agents tend to be finicky about little things like that. And you don't want to bite the hand that may, one day, feed you.

 

[HareBrain]

I read this had something to do with English and American authors.

Books published in the UK overwhelmingly use single quotes, US is double. I'm not sure about elsewhere.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Interesting, I much prefer, and always used, double marks for speech. Unless it was a quotation within speech, then I'd use single.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Using double has the advantage that, should your publisher require single quotes, a "find and replace" is easily done without accidentally sweeping up all the apostrophes on the way. In reverse, not so easy!

Give a lazy person a job, and they'll find the easiest way to do it...

 

[The Judge]

I use doubles nowadays, simply so I don't confuse them with apostrophes. They're not as elegant in some fonts, but far easier to see, and as Kerry says, far easier to change if you need to do so.

As thaddeus mentioned, though, whichever you choose, you have to use the other one when dealing with quotations or direct speech within dialogue ie "You'd better mend that now," said Martha. "As Mother always says, 'A stitch in time saves nine.'"

 

[tinkerdan]

When I read I can live with whichever; however I felt I could do without the fellow that used none what-so-ever.

 

[Droflet]

You'd be surprised how quickly you get used to it, Tink.

 

[Tawariell]

I use doubles nowadays, simply so I don't confuse them with apostrophes. They're not as elegant in some fonts, but far easier to see, and as Kerry says, far easier to change if you need to do so.

As thaddeus mentioned, though, whichever you choose, you have to use the other one when dealing with quotations or direct speech within dialogue ie "You'd better mend that now," said Martha. "As Mother always says, 'A stitch in time saves nine.'"

My thoughts exactly! I always thought using double would make it easier somehow.

 

[Tawariell]

When I read I can live with whichever; however I felt I could do without the fellow that used none what-so-ever.

He sounds like a brave man... what book was this?

 

[Droflet]

Probably more than I'm aware of. But acclaimed Australian author Tim Winton didn't. Still, he's a hell of a writer and his 'style' hasn't hurt his reviews or sales. Cloudstreet was his first book that I read and I've been a big fan ever since. Tink will have to tell you about his choice.

 

[MartinC]

I converted my manuscript into single quotations after taking a straw poll on my book shelf - single speech marks just about won out. I tend to use double for in dialogue quotes.

 

[Wayne Mack]

One of the guides that I use recommends, for American style, to start with double quotes, then single quotes. The example actually shows a third level, returning to double quotes: Quotation marks | The Punctuation Guide

For the British version, the order is simply reversed: British versus American style | The Punctuation Guide

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

I like the look of double quotes better. They're satisfyingly chunky! Less chance of missing them or mistaking them for apostrophes, too. Rooting through various books (all UK editions) on a handy shelf just now, I found no rhyme or reason as to which was used. About 2/3 used double quotes. But it wasn't consistant at all between books by the same author or between books from the same publisher.

 

[Don]

Books published in the UK overwhelmingly use single quotes, US is double. I'm not sure about elsewhere.

My modern German Perry Rhodan ePubs use »…« and ›…‹ while my 1960s German Perry Rhodan pulps use „…“ and ‚…‘ .

 

[HareBrain]

I like the look of double quotes better. They're satisfyingly chunky! Less chance of missing them

Visibility is quite a big consideration in first-person present-tense, where (if it's done well) lots of the narrative is effectively interior monologue, and dialogue can be mistaken for a continuation of it.

 

[Venusian Broon]

He sounds like a brave man... what book was this?

Sorry, a bit behind in this thread. Cormac McCarthy doesn't use quotation marks and I have yet to read a bad book of his. Others may have different opinions.

 

[Dan Jones]

I would also have mentioned McCarthy as a prime user of the "no quotation mark" way of formatting dialogue. Joyce, IIRC, also did without them completely. Ditto Irvine Welsh. There are others, too, whose names escape me right now. I have a couple of Spanish books and the use of the em-dash is pretty standard as a dialogue tag. In fact I believe a lot of non-English speakers find the idea of quotation marks weird, though it'd be good to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

I prefer double quotation marks, with singles used for "quotes-within-quotes". In the prologue of my WIP I've dispensed with quotation marks completely, in some instances not using tags at all, but only for the prologue. From chapter 1 dialogue reverts to double-quotes.