Style Bites

Describing something as “quality food” raises the question: “What kind of quality?” We already have enough low-quality and mediocre-quality food.

That is to say quality is not an adjective but a noun.

If you’re using quality to mean stupendous, use high-quality.

The basic guidelines for quotation marks:

FOR DIRECT QUOTATIONS
To surround the exact words of a speaker or writer when reported in a blog post:

• “I have no intention of eating here,” he said
• “I do not object,” he said, “to the prospect of dessert.”
• William Grimes said, “If clowns had a cuisine, this would be it.”
• A diner said the pizza at Roma was “fine in a pinch.”

QUOTES WITHIN QUOTES
Alternate between double quotation marks and single marks:

• She said, “I quote from his letter, ‘I agree with Kipling that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” but the phenomenon is not an unchangeable law of nature,’ a remark he did not explain.”
• Use three marks together if two quoted elements end at the same time: She said, “He told me, ‘I love you.’”

PLACEMENT WITH OTHER PUNCTUATION
Follow these long-accepted printers’ rules:

• The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.
• The dash, the semicolon, the question mark, and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

DIALOGUE OR CONVERSATION
Each person’s words, no matter how brief, are placed in a separate paragraph, with quotation marks at the beginning and the end of each person’s speech:

“I’d like a table for two at 8 p.m.”

“We only have 5:30 and 10.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Then 5:30, please.”

See also BLOCKQUOTES

DO NOT USE double quotes in headlines or post titles. USE SINGLE QUOTES.

No: “Crazy Legs” Conti Eats a Hot Dog
Yes: ‘Crazy Legs’ Conti Eats a Hot Dog

No: Jersey “Food Court” Dispatch: Mitsuwa Marketplace
Yes: Jersey ‘Food Court’ Dispatch: Mitsuwa Marketplace

No: Australian Senate: Ramsay Fills TV with “Astounding Volume of Foul Language”
Yes: Australian Senate: Ramsay Fills TV with ‘Astounding Volume of Foul Language’

Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. [This SB was previously covered in the 6/1/2008 and 5/25/2008 editions.]

“I eat like a pig,” Joey Chestnut said. Not “I eat like a pig”, Joey Chestnut said.

Joey Chestnut said, “I eat like a pig.” Not Joey Chestnut said, “I eat like a pig”.