Quotation Marks...And Then Quotation Marks

The following sentence appeared in the "Jobs" feature of The Birmingham News on Sunday:

“Their attitude is that, ‘You’re very lucky that you’ve got me as your (accountant/physician/salesman),” said Robicheaux.

The writer got the OUTSIDE set of quotation marks correct.

• Double quotations marks around what Robichaux said
• A comma INSIDE the quotation marks at the end of the quote when the speaker credit is at the end

The writer was also correct in putting a single quotation mark before "You're" because he was inserting another quote inside the first one. However, he apparently got busy and forgot the second single quotation mark at the end of the "quote within a quote." The sentence should look like this:

“Their attitude is that, ‘You’re very lucky that you’ve got me as your (accountant/physician/salesman),'” said Robicheaux.

Notice that you have three quotation marks together where BOTH the outside quote and the inside quote end.

Here are some good reminders about using quotation marks:

• Put quotation marks at the beginning AND the end of anything you copy word for word from what someone said.
• ALWAYS put commas and periods INSIDE the quotation marks.
• Use single quotation marks around anything you quote inside something you are already quoting.

Here are a couple examples:

The Birmingham News has a Sunday column called "Jobs."

"We have a Bull Connor problem," Condoleezza Rice said recently as she described the distrust Iraqis feel towards their police forces. She was recalling her childhood during the turbulent 1960s in Birmingham.