A very basic question - a strange one, too, because after years of using a computer keyboard I suddenly had a panic attack. As I am preparing a manuscript for submission I wondered whether I have using the right characters all these years:-

Is the mark on the same button as (and under) the @ sign an inverted comma or single quote mark?

Is the mark on the key left to the number "1" an inverted comma or single quote mark?

I may have been using them Interchangeably!!

Unfortunately, that rather depends on the keyboard you are using. My Apple keyboard, for example, positions the single and double quotes over by the right-hand carriage return.

One of the easiest ways to tell is to switch into a proportional font such as Courier, and type the characters. It's easier to tell in Courier whether the character is an inverted comma (ie diagonal `) or a single quote (straight '.

Or just type some of the characters you're unsure about into an WW edit box and we'll tell you.

<Added>

that was meant to be single quote like this: '

Thanks griff,

I have this ' character on the @ key

and this ` character left to the the "1" key, if that helps.

OK this is where it gets complicated.

The symbol you have on your @ key appears as a small vertical dash when I cut and paste it into Courier.

The symbol you have on your 1 key appears as a small diagonal dash. As it goes from top left to bottom right, it is sometimes called a back tick.

I've just flicked through some of my books on this kind of thing, and it seems that the terms inverted comma and single quote are widely used interchangeably for BOTH these symbols, regardless of the direction of the angled quote. So as long as you are consistent with one or the other, I can't imagine anyone holding it against you.

Do you have any guidelines from the publisher ? My inclination would be to use double quotes to indicate speech, the diagonal quote (which may come out curved in your font of choice) for "quotes within quotes" and the straight quote as an apostrophe.

WW-ers with recent publishing experience may suggest otherwise though ?

Michael,

It’s not linked to the font. You can smarten quotes by going to:

Tools/Autocorrect Options/Autoformat as you type

Then tick ‘Replace straight quotes with smart quotes’

So when you use the ‘ on the same key as @ it will curve in the right direction whether you use it for speech or for an apostrophe.

As far as I can tell, the ` next to the 1 key always points in the same direction, so it looks wonky when used for speech. I've never ever used this key. In fact I hadn’t even noticed it was there until tonight, but now it explains why some people’s apostrophes look weird.

Generally, in this country, we use single quotes for dialogue (that’s the one on the @ key) and doubles for quotes within quotes. In America, they prefer the reverse.

Dee


<Added>

I'm assuming you're in Word...

Generally, in this country, we use single quotes for dialogue (that’s the one on the @ key) and doubles for quotes within quotes. In America, they prefer the reverse.

Oops - well spotted, Dee! Just realised that the book I checked in was Chicago Manual Of Style which I keep on my desk for work reasons.

It’s not linked to the font.

My point was that if you type in a single quote (Michael's 1 key) and switch the font from Courier to Helvetica for example, the character changes from a diagonal straight dash to a curly inverted comma.

Fascinating. I can see that I've opened a can of worms - but "better out than in" as my mother used to say. I think I'll seek confirmation, as mentioned, from the publisher about guidelines on such things.

Thanks again.




<Added>

and thanks for that Word advice, Dee. I've just replace straight quotes with smart quotes. Didn't know about it before.

I don’t have Helvetica on my laptop, so I can't reproduce that. However, I've tried several different fonts and, while with some of them that ` looked marginally different, it always pointed in the same direction, which looks wrong for speech marks:

`this doesn’t look right.`

‘but this does’

Dee


<Added>

Might have been easier to see if I’d bolded them…

`this doesn’t look right.`

‘this does’

OOh, I always use the ' on and under the @ key for speech quotes, but use it as it is, straight not curved. Is that okay? or should it be curved?

I've been happily ambling along using it without even thinking about it, and now you've got me wondering.

Katerina




<Added>

Oh, I do beg your pardon, I'm a little liar. I must at some point have changed it as Dee described to curly quotes, because I've just checked and although I use single quotes, they are the curly ones.

Shows how much notice I take :)