Talk:quotation mark
Copy of discussion:
Wouldn't this be better as "One of a pair of quotation marks"? COCA shows 237 uses in the plural, 4 in the singular. It seems like a simpler case than the other words that refer to pairs of things because there is only one meaning. I often find myself typing plural forms in the search box, even when looking for terms more frequently used in the singular. I think the WP article should be moved to the plural for the same reasons. DCDuring TALK 15:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
- Yes, I thought the same when I made a small edit. Even one of the pair is actually two marks (normally, though British publishers seem to be trying to reverse the old rule). At present, the plural just points back to the singular. Should I have a go at expanding the plural entry, then shorten the singular? Dbfirs 22:22, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
- I wasn't 100% sure, but it seems as if the plural should be the primary. I'm sure this will confuse translators. Perhaps all the translations should be copied and put under checktrans, though I'm not sure whether the translations at the singular respect the singular number. The general rule is that we don't make translations at plurals, but we must have exceptions for eyeglasses, binoculars, pliers, etc. (Hmmm, I'll look into that while you do what you will to the entry.) It hadn't occurred to me that each pair of inverted commas could be viewed as "marks". I've always thought of them as a unit, just like the two marks that make up a question mark.
- It looks to me as if some are singular and some are plural, but I'm not a polyglot, so I'll leave it to experts to check. Dbfirs 07:10, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
Single quote???[edit]
Some languages do actually refer linguistically to a single apostrophe. Nathan, 2A00:A041:4A5F:F800:C985:D6DC:6DBE:29F7 21:17, 18 September 2022 (UTC)
I removed this content, as not really separate senses[edit]
I have reduced this content to the short definition that remains now, since there are not really two semantic definitions of "quotation mark": rather there are two styles of quoting, which isn't about dictionary senses.
- (UK) The symbol used at the beginning of the quotation ("opening quotation mark") is usually “ ("open inverted commas") or ‘ ("open inverted comma"), and the symbol at the end ("closing quotation mark") is ” ("close inverted commas") or ’ ("close inverted comma").
- (North America) Either of a pair of quotation marks used to denote a quotation in writing. The same symbol is now typically used at both the beginning and the end of the quotation, which is usually the "double quotes" or "straight quotes" symbol ", although the "single quote" or "straight quote" symbol ' is sometimes used, especially to denote a quotation within a quotation.