Use of single, double and angular quotes

Quotation marks are a double punctuation mark (such as parenthesis, exclamation or questioning) that, like no other, has a variety of forms.

There are several types of quotes that are used within the writing of a text, however, the use is always the same and are used to differentiate a portion of the text from the rest of the text, basically because another author is being quoted textually, or reproducing faithfully the word he pronounced. In smaller proportion to enclose improper words or that belong to another language, to cite titles, to clarify the meaning of a word or to comment it.

Quotation types or classes

There are four types of quotes, like this:

• Single quotes (‘)
• English double quotation marks («)
• Spanish double quotes (“”)
• Angular quotes («») (or Latin)

The use, as we said, is indistinct, and it is the author who decides what type of quotes he will use. In any case, for the uniformity of the text, it is convenient that a standard type of quotes be used for the entire text.

So mime, if the text is in Spanish, the usual thing is to use the Spanish double quotes or the Latin ones. If the text is in English it is advisable to use the single or double English quotes (although angular ones are also widely used).

When quoting a text that is already in quotes you can and should use the other quotes.

Example of the use of quotes

«When he arrived at the house, after his ‘retirement’, his father said to him:« Look, I have brought you this ‘gift’, I hope you enjoy it »»

“The driver was thinking, ‘What if the engine is’ broken’?»

In these cases, when you are going to use several types of quotes, even if they are indistinct, the usual and mostly used is to open and close with angle quotes, leaving the other types of quotes that we are going to use within the text, preferably, leaving the single quotes for short terms