Making quotes, examples. Rules for the formulation of direct speech and citations

Quotes are able to decorate the text, confirming or broadening the idea expressed by the author, therefore, probably, they are willingly used in both journalism and scientific works. But sometimes an introduction to the text of a quote can cause difficulties in terms of punctuation.

In this article, we will try to remember the rules for the formulation of quotations with different ways of including them in the text. Let us recall what punctuation marks should be used in this case, as well as the ways of highlighting some words in the passage cited.

What is a quote: an example

Quotation is a verbatim reproduction of what has been said, while inextricably related in meaning to the text, where this passage is included.

Elderly age is, above all, experience accumulated during life. As the great Faina Ranevskaya once said: "Memories are a wealth of old age".

The combination of several passages from different parts of the work in one quotation is not allowed. They should be formatted as different quotes. An obligatory requirement is the presence of an indication of its source.

If the place you are bringing does not begin with the beginning of the original proposal, then in the quote there is an ellipsis. In place of all missed words in the passage, this sign is also placed.

"... A wise person knows how to get out of a difficult situation, but a wise man never gets into it," Ranevskaya stressed.

As indicated by the author or source of the passage quoted

We will not talk about how a bibliographic footnote is being prepared, but we will discuss the ways in which the author or the source of the quoted is indicated. Good-practice rules require you to do this every time you use someone's thought.

So, if you want to put a link to the source or mention the author's surname immediately after the quotation, then it is accepted to put them in brackets.

"The incompetent people have a tendency to unambiguous and categorical conclusions" (David Dunning).

Note that the point after the quote in this version is not put, it is put only after the link! By the way, if the first word in parentheses indicating the source is not its own name, then it is written with a small letter.

"The incompetent people have a tendency to unambiguous and categorical conclusions" (from the article of psychologist David Dunning).

If the design of citations in the text requires the author's name or source to be taken out to another line, then they are written without brackets and other punctuation marks. And after the quote itself, a dot or any necessary sign is placed.

The incompetent people have a tendency to unambiguous and categorical conclusions.

David Dunning

The same rule applies to epigraphs.

Allocations within quotations

If there are author's extracts in the passage quoted as a quotation, they are retained in the same form as in the original source. The formulation of quotations does not require special emphasis on the fact that these marks belong to the author. In the cases where the citing person wants something, he must make a corresponding footnote. For this, the brackets indicate: "my italics" or "highlighted by me" - and put the initials.

A. Startsev spoke about the writer O. Henry: "He was endowed by nature with a rare gift to see cheerful ... he encountered a tragic life ... but in most cases he preferred to remain silent (my italics - II)".

The author also puts the initials in the case when there is a need to additionally introduce explanations in the quotation.

"Literary tradition, which combined their names (Gogol and Ostrovsky - II), is significant. After all, Ostrovsky was initially perceived as a direct continuer of the work of Gogol ... "

The ways in which citations are introduced into context

Quotations can be entered in the sentence as a direct speech. In these cases, punctuation marks in the Russian language are put in the same way as in the allocation of direct speech.

I. Zakharov emphasizes: "Ranevskaya endured cruel definitions to others, which look like judicial decisions. But she did not spare herself either. "

In cases where the quotation should be divided by the author's words, it looks like this:

"His Majesty is absolutely confident," wrote A.S. Pushkin A.Kh. Benckendorff, - that you will use your excellent abilities to transmit to posterity the glory of our Fatherland ... "

If the quotation is an addition, or it is included in the subordinate part of a complex sentence, then there are no signs except for quotes, and the quotation itself begins with a small letter, even if it was written with a large letter:

At one time the philosopher J. Locke said that "there is nothing in the intellect that would not be in the feeling."

Punctuation marks at the end of the quotation

Separately, you need to consider writing a quote on a letter in situations where you need to determine the punctuation marks at the end of it - before and after the quotes.

• If the quoted phrase ends with an ellipsis, interrogative or exclamation mark, then they are placed in front of the quotes:

Catherine Hepburn exclaimed: "Obeying all the rules, you deprive yourself of many pleasures!"

• And in a situation where there are no signs in front of the quotation marks, at the end of the sentence the dot is put, but only after them:

Ranevskaya lamented: "85 years with diabetes - not sugar."

• If the citation is a part of the subordinate clause, then the point after the quotation marks should be put, even if they already have either an exclamation point, or a question mark or an ellipsis:

Marlene Dietrich rightly believed that "tenderness is the best proof of love than the most passionate oaths ...".

Is the lowercase or uppercase letter at the beginning of the quotation?

If the quote is placed after the colon, then it is necessary to pay attention to which letter it started in the source. If from a lowercase letter, then the quote is written with a small one, only in front of the text is an ellipsis:

Describing A.S. Pushkin, I.A. Goncharov stressed: "... in the gestures accompanying his speech, was the restraint of a secular, well-bred person."

If the quoted passage begins with a capital letter, then the citation design is the same as with direct speech - with a capital letter after the colon.

V.Lakshin wrote about A.N. Ostrovsky: "Much continues to sound in these plays with lively joy and pain, responding to our soul."

Some more nuances of quotation marks

And how to designate a quote, if it is necessary to bring only one word or phrase? In such cases, the quoted word is enclosed in quotes and entered into the sentence with a small letter:

V. Lakshin stressed that the persons in the comedies of Ostrovsky are historically accurate and "ethnographically bright."

In situations where the source of the quote is not freely available (there is no translation into Russian or this is a rare edition), then when quoting it should be indicated: "cit. by".

Is it possible to change something in the passage cited

The design of citations requires not only compliance with punctuation rules, but also a correct attitude to the cited text. On the part of the author of the article, in which these passages are given, only a few deviations from their initial state are allowed:

• Use modern spelling and punctuation, if the manner of writing and placing the signs is not a sign of the individual style of the author;
• Restoration of abbreviated words, but with the obligatory conclusion of the part in the square brackets, for example, the sv-in-the-left;
• The formulation of quotations allows also the omission of individual words in them, with the designation of the place of passage by an ellipsis, if this does not distort the general meaning of the quoted passage;
• At inclusion of separate word-combinations or words it is possible to change their case, that not to break syntactic structure of a phrase in which they are included.

If the author needs to express his attitude to the quoted passage or to some of his words, he usually puts an interrogative or exclamation mark in parentheses after them.

Not only punctuation in the Russian language should serve to transmit a quote

For the writer's scientific or literary work of the author, the quotation is a convincing and economical technique that allows you to present facts to the reader, to generalize them and, of course, to confirm your idea by referring to authoritative sources.

In unscientific texts, a quote is often a means of emotional impact. But we must not forget that the passage should be transmitted accurately. After all, even in the definition of the concept of "quote" it is stressed that this is a verbatim transcript of an extract from a text. And from this it follows that not only the text itself, but also the punctuation marks available to the author, as well as the extractions that he has, should be reproduced without distortion.

And this can equally be attributed to both official documents and emotional excerpts from fiction. Only remembering this, you can fully understand what a quote is. An example of a careful attitude to the cited material is first of all respect for the author who wrote the lines you cited.