A Dictionary of Cont..

not be used at all. A misquotation is unfair to
both the quoted source and the reader. We may
write: He said, “I will not under any circumstances
run for ofice!” or He said he would not
run for o&e. If The quotation runs into several
paragraphs, the quotation marks should be
placed at the beginning of each paragraph but
at the end of only the last paragraph. If the
quotation is indented and blocked off, or is to
be put into smaller type, quotation marks can
be dispensed with.
2. To indicate in dialogue when one character
stops speaking and another begins. This may
be additionally indicated by beginning a new
indented line with each new speaker, as in
“What do you think could be the matter?”
he asked, frowning severely.
“I don’t know, but it’s probably something
simple.”
Sometimes dialogue is written so that each paragraph
begins with the identifying name of the
person speaking, usually followed by a dash; in
these cases, quotation marks are not needed.
Also, some novelists dislike quotation marks
and do not use them or any other identifying
device.
3. To indicate that a word or phrase is being
used ironically or with a special meaning, as in
Then this “ladv” took a uoke at him with her
umbrella. When the words so-called perform
this same function, quotation marks should not
be used.
4. To set off names of books (except the
Bible), dramas, operas, statuary, music, paintings,
which in more formal usage would be set
off in italics, as in Have you read “Effie Briesi’?
Quotation marks are not used with names of
ships, trains, airplanes, homes of famous people,
or characters in plays or novels, as in Have you
been to Mount Vernon?.
There is considerable difference of opinion
about the ways in which quotation marks should
be combined with other punctuation marks. But,
in general:
1. The period and the comma are placed inside
the quotation marks, as in He said, “‘I’m
ready to go now.” and Although he said, “I’m
ready to go now,” it was not true.
2. The question mark and exclamation point
rabbit; rarebit. See Welsh rabbit.
Rabelaisian. The designation of wild, coarse, satiric
humor, characterized by an exuberance of
vocabulary and extravagance of imagery, as
Rabelaisian is fully justified. But to call any
piece of indecency Rabelaisian is to utter a critical
clich6 and display an ignorance of Rabelais.
Freudian is often similarly misused (by Sinclair
406
R
can come either inside or after the quotation
marks, depending upon the sense of the sentence,
as h He exclaimed “There she is!” He
asked. “Where is she?” What a uitv he said
“‘No”,; Who are these “liberal friend>‘?
3. A colon or semicolon after a quotation
will always be outside the quotation marks, as
in “The world is too much with us”: This sentiment
seems to grow truer with the years and
She said, “Why, of course”; anything they desired
was immediately theirs.
4. Introductory words or phrases are usually
set off from the quotation by a comma, as in
He said, “Let’s get going.” However, if the
phrase is short the comma can be dropped, as
in He said “Let’s get going.” Two commas are
used if a phrase interrupts the quotation or if
the quotation is in the middle of a sentence, as
in “What made me say that,” he explained, “is
that I never have liked that color” and He said.
“I never have liked that color,” but everyone
looked at him blankly.
5. A quotation within a quotation is mdicated
by single quotation marks within regular
double quotation marks, as in Mary cried, “But
then he said, ‘Why do 2 have to?“’ If a writer
uses single quotation marks as his regular identifying
device, he must put his inside quotations
within double marks. If a further level of quotation
is introduced into the sentence, the double
and single marks must alternate. In general,
sentences of this kind should be avoided.
6. Quotation marks may be omitted when a
single word is being used, as in What will you
do if she says No? and Suddenly a blur whizzed
by, shouting Hellof as it passed.
quote. See cite.
quoth. This one word is all that remains of a
former verb. It has no past tense, no future
tense, no -ing form, or anything else that a verb
requires. It appears only in poetry, or humorous
speech, and always in the inverted order, as in
quoth he. It is not included in this dictionary
because we think that some one might need to
know these facts but simply in order to make
the list of irregular verbs now found in English
complete.
q.v. This is an abbreviation of the Latin words
quad vide and means “which see.”
Lewis, among others) as a sort of intelIectual
synonym for dirty. Such words are pretentious,
and if one pretends to be familiar with Rabelais
or Freud one ought not, in the very use of their
names, to expose the fact that one has only a
remote and confused idea of what they have
written.
rabid. See frantie.