Today I want to talk briefly about quotes within quotes….within quotes. The endless rabbit hole of quotes within quotes can get confusing, especially if you don’t use proper punctuation. Let’s examine:
“I like cheese.”
One sentence of quotes. Easy enough. But what happens when we add a quote within that quote?
“Whatever you’re calling ‘cheese’ is just something processed.”
When using quotes inside a quote, you need single quotation marks. Here’s another example:
“He told me to ‘be quiet and sit down.’ I thought it was rude.”
Now, what happens when you have a quote within a quote within a quote? Yes, it happens.
Here’s the pattern: double –> single –> double
The quote within a quote within a quote is rare, but I’ve seen it. Just remember that you start with double quotation marks (“), move to single (‘), then back to double (“) and so on. It’s a simple rule but one that a lot of people don’t know.
Hopefully this was helpful! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.
For further reading:
Grammarly.com on Quotes within Quotes
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips
