English Grammar Rules & Mistakes: Learn All of the Essentials: Writing, Speaking, Literature and Punctuation Rules Complete with 10 Key Skills and Over 200 Common Error Examples

Know when to wrap it up: understanding quotation marks and
parentheses
As we come to the end of our journey through punctuation we are going to
finish off with two superstars! First, let’s discuss how we use quotation marks
correctly. Second, we will wrap up the whole chapter with a how-to-guide on
parentheses.
“The weather is going to be perfect in Marbella,” Jessica said.
Quotation marks don’t take much explaining. They are used whenever you
insert someone else’s words into your writing. The absolute rule of quotation
marks is that when you open a set, you also have to close them. So, if you
want to quote someone, you start with one set of quotation marks that point
towards the right followed by the other person’s words ending with a
punctuation mark such as a comma and a second set of quotation marks that
point towards the left.
Juan contradicted Jessica, “They told me at the airport there would
be a big storm in Marbella.”
Another thing to keep in mind when using quotation marks is the position
they come in the sentence. It is easier with the first example as it comes at the
beginning. However, if it comes in the middle or end of a sentence you must
remember to capitalize the first word in the quote.
“I think you will find I am right,” said Jessica, “after all, I am the
meteorologist.”
That being said, if you decide to split your quote into two parts, you only
capitalize the first letter of the first word in the first section of the quote,
ending that section with a comma. When you add the second section of the
quote, you don’t need to capitalize it. When you are using this type of

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construction, think of it as one long quote that if written as a whole wouldn’t
have a random capital letter in the middle. That way you won’t forget about
the capitalization rule.
At this time of year, you can hear recitations of Charles Dickens’s