Business Writing

Lesson 2: Grammar and Punctuation

Quotation Marks

You'll see quite a bit of variety in the use of quotation marks when you're reading. This is partly because the rules for using quotation marks differ on either side of the Atlantic.

American English uses double quotation marks to indicate speech and single quotation marks to indicate speech within speech (eg: "He said to me 'You're always late.'") In Britain, these marks are traditionally used the other way round, though many British writers now conform to the American standard. In most cases, either is appropriate, so long as you are consistent.

Single quotation marks are always used to single out a particular word - you'll see many examples of that in these lessons, when a word is being talked about rather than performing its usual function in a sentence. Single quotation marks are also used around words whose appropriateness in a particular situation is dubious, eg: "our 'beloved' leader" (as written by somebody who doesn't think the leader in question is worthy of such a description). This is slang usage, however, and is not usually appropriate for business writing.

When you are splitting up continued speech, you should use commas to indicate the pause, eg: "'I don't think,' she said, 'that you should do that.'" However, where possible you should try to avoid splitting speech in the middle of a clause. Where speech can be split into two sentences, the prevailing standard is to end the first of those sentences with a comma rather than a period (eg: "'I don't care,' he said, 'I'll do what I like.'") However, you will encounter writing which adheres to a different standard and does not do this.

It is unlikely that you will need to make complicated use of quotations in your business writing. Most businesses use direct quotations only in advertising (eg: "Mrs, Brown from Surrey said 'What a wonderful diet! I lost twenty five pounds!'") Using a lot of quotations can make your writing seem less formal. Furthermore, by making reference to other people all the time it makes you seem less confident and gives the impression that you are taking less personal responsibility for what you're saying.

Developing good grammar habits takes time and practice. Don't worry if you find it difficult at first. Many experienced writers don't spot their grammatical errors until the proofreading stage.

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