TYPOGRAPHERS QUOTES VS. STRAIGHT QUOTES

 

Use Typographers Quotes or Curly Quotes instead of straight quotes.


Typographers quotations marks: There are four types of directional quotation marks: the opening single, the opening double, the closing single and the closing double.

Straight quotation marks: When the typewriter was designed, single straight and double straight quotation marks were introduced to act as two-in-one quotation marks to replace the four directional ones. Having these two ambidextrous quotation marks instead of four directional ones saved the typewriter from having four keys dedicated to quotations marks, and instead allowed it to get away with just two.

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Since nowadays even our most basic computer programs have fancy software that lets you control whether your quotation marks are straight or curly, you should make an effort to use the typographically correct ones: the curly ones.