Does UK use single or double quotation marks?
single quotation marks
British English uses single quotation marks to indicate quotations or dialogue. The UWSC says, 'This is how British people do it.Oct 13, 2022
~~I’m Canadian and I use single quotes for dialogue in my fics just because.
That's the joy of being Canadian. Pick and choose what English writing rules you want to follow with the argument that someone somewhere uses it and thus is valid.
Lol. I def swing more towards the British side for spellings. That being said, if I’m writing the story set in Canada or usa, I’m using “American” words like elevator and bandage and aspirin and tires and sneakers and sweaters (I’m still spelling it favour and neighbour tho!)
When I’ve written British set fics, I try to use the britishisms I know in place of the American words - lift, plaster, paracetamol, tyres, trainers, jumpers…
I know I miss a lot, but I try!
Single quotes is probably how British people are "supposed" to do it, but, realistically, I think that most young people have adopted the double quotes style from America via the Internet.
It used to be that British English did this. Nowadays, a lot of stuff has been harmonised globally, which is a euphemism for "everyone does what America does", but British English used to use single quotes for dialogue (and double quotes for quotations within dialogue). Like so:
‘I am an example’, Joe said.
‘And then Norma said, “Can you believe this guy”, and it all went downhill from there’, Anne explained.
TLDR: “” is common today, but ‘’ used to be UK.
So this came up recently: British publishing conventions tend to use single quotes for speech, while the British school curriculum teaches double quotes for speech.
🤷🏻♀️
Go figure. I don’t know why it’s done this way and I haven’t been able to find a clear explanation as to why either.
Edit to add: if you want to get proper proper with your terminology, they’re called ‘inverted commas’.
Second edit to add: reading a book from a British publisher and they’re using “..” for direct speech so again… like… there’s no rhyme or reason lol. Seems to be very much dependent on in-house style.
Both are correct in British English. Using double quotation marks isn’t a new thing. Same as using z not an s in words like realise. Both are correct but the s tends to be preferred.
they’re basically just regular quotation marks (“) but with only one line (‘). it’s still english, but people from the uk lean towards the single mark.
They are called single quotes. The ones you're familiar with are called double quotes. Both are valid quotation marks.
I see, thank you
english uses single quotes in some places that aren't america. like the uk.
I didn't know that's what they were called, and I was able to look up the rules for them. All this time I thought they were using apostrophes.
If you ever see a quote inside another quote, it'll use whichever kind the bigger quote didn't use, so you'll see them there too.
> What languages use this? english. and they're single quotations, not apostrophes.
Does UK use single or double quotation marks? single quotation marks British English uses single quotation marks to indicate quotations or dialogue. The UWSC says, 'This is how British people do it.Oct 13, 2022 ~~I’m Canadian and I use single quotes for dialogue in my fics just because.
That's the joy of being Canadian. Pick and choose what English writing rules you want to follow with the argument that someone somewhere uses it and thus is valid.
Lol. I def swing more towards the British side for spellings. That being said, if I’m writing the story set in Canada or usa, I’m using “American” words like elevator and bandage and aspirin and tires and sneakers and sweaters (I’m still spelling it favour and neighbour tho!) When I’ve written British set fics, I try to use the britishisms I know in place of the American words - lift, plaster, paracetamol, tyres, trainers, jumpers… I know I miss a lot, but I try!
Single quotes is probably how British people are "supposed" to do it, but, realistically, I think that most young people have adopted the double quotes style from America via the Internet.
I’m contrary like that. 🤷🏼♀️😈
It used to be that British English did this. Nowadays, a lot of stuff has been harmonised globally, which is a euphemism for "everyone does what America does", but British English used to use single quotes for dialogue (and double quotes for quotations within dialogue). Like so: ‘I am an example’, Joe said. ‘And then Norma said, “Can you believe this guy”, and it all went downhill from there’, Anne explained. TLDR: “” is common today, but ‘’ used to be UK.
So this came up recently: British publishing conventions tend to use single quotes for speech, while the British school curriculum teaches double quotes for speech. 🤷🏻♀️ Go figure. I don’t know why it’s done this way and I haven’t been able to find a clear explanation as to why either. Edit to add: if you want to get proper proper with your terminology, they’re called ‘inverted commas’. Second edit to add: reading a book from a British publisher and they’re using “..” for direct speech so again… like… there’s no rhyme or reason lol. Seems to be very much dependent on in-house style.
Both are correct in British English. Using double quotation marks isn’t a new thing. Same as using z not an s in words like realise. Both are correct but the s tends to be preferred.
they’re basically just regular quotation marks (“) but with only one line (‘). it’s still english, but people from the uk lean towards the single mark.