Tag Archives: nazi

“unnecessary” quotation marks

I’m not a grammar Nazi, but I thought this was funny and educational “in one fell swoop.”

Necessary use of quotes include

– demarcating speech: “Yo Dawg,” said Rover.
– sarcasm or ironic references, often said with intonation or with the help of air quotes.
– Use–mention, noting the word itself rather than concept or meaning: “Uke” may have originated as a shortened form of “ukelele.”
– Titles: I repeatedly listened to the Beach Boys’ “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” 12 times.

Other times they are used for emphasizing words, when more accurately underlining, italicizing, highlighting, or even circling may be less ambiguous to the intentions.

I’ll let you wear my “clean” clothes.

This could imply you are lending not-so-clean clothes. Or that “clean” has a different meaning than expected. Think about the importance of a place that has “AIDS free” needles! Hah.

Get your “kicks” on “Route 66” over at “http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/