Why do they do this? I once heard Doctorow tell a group of journalists that if a writer knows what he's doing, quotation marks aren't really necessary. "You can tell when it's dialogue," he explained.

With dialogue, specific punctuation is needed. Most often, commas and periods go within the quotation marks, but there are some forms of punctuation and examples that go outside of the quotation marks ...

Use quotation marks around dialogue (i.e., something someone says). “I’m still upset Pluto is no longer a planet,” Humphrey remarked. This is an example of a direct quote, ...

Though they aren’t required with dialogue, quotation marks can help readers understand a writer’s intent. (Patrick Hruby / Los Angeles Times) By June Casagrande. Feb. 6, 2024 4:30 PM PT .

Apostrophe with comma and single quotation mark: Take our Jed sentence above and put it at the end of a clause and you get three punctuation marks in a row: “Jed said, ‘I’m walkin ...

There are many differences between British and American punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Neither version is more correct than the other; which version you should use just depends on who your ...

Quotation marks aren’t just for dialogue. Quotation marks are often used around direct quotes, and they set off titles of short stories, essays, poems and songs.

Use quotation marks around dialogue (i.e., something someone says). “I’m still upset Pluto is no longer a planet,” Humphrey remarked. This is an example of a direct quote, so, it gets quotation marks.