Wikinews:Water cooler/policy/archives/2022/March

Style guide / Quotes

How would you mark quotes within quotes?

The question came up around this quote: "we have the fifth lowest fuel price [in the European Union]. We pay 480 [Hungarian] forints [per liter, but] without the »price-stop« we would pay well over 500 forints" in Hungary extends fuel price cap. In this case »price-stop« is meant to mark an invented, not commonplace expression, and not a direct quote from someone else.

Pinged @JJLiu112:. - Xbspiro (talk) 20:18, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

Just off the top of my head, I think the style used by English Wikipedia and the Chicago Manual of Style (which we largely follow when not covered by our own WN:SG) is a single quote, rather than the » and « marks. Example in the quote box below.

The president said in a speech, "I met with the other leaders and they told me 'we have a deal' and the problem is resolved". The president then left the podium.

The phrase we have a deal being the quote within a quote. --SVTCobra 20:33, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

To my understanding we use single quotation marks ' as opposed to double " or either single <> or double guillemets <<>> to distinguish a quote within a quote, for instance "Mr x said 'xxx'" or "Mr x said 'xxx'". --JJLiu112 (talk) 20:56, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

That practice is correct throughout English. The only time we wouldn't use single quotes on the inside is if we were to use single quotes on the outside, as British English permits (but does not require): The prime minister said in a speech, 'I met with the other leaders and they told me "we have a deal" and the problem is resolved.' (And that last period goes inside the last quotation mark per both British and American rules.) Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:29, 9 March 2022 (UTC)