Q

Is there a preference for speech/quotation marks when used inside another speech? For example, “Hermione said, and I quote, ‘do your homework.’” Or would it be the other way around, ‘Hermione said, and I quote, “do your homework.”’?

A

Here’s the rule: whichever quotation mark you use for dialogue, use the opposite one for quotes.

Both of the examples in your question are correct, the only issue being the placement of the full stop.

British usage favours single quotation marks for dialogue, while American favours double quotation marks. British usage also prefers leaving punctuation that belongs to the dialogue or that belongs to both the dialogue and the quote outside the quote’s quotation marks.

So the second example becomes: ‘Hermione said, and I quote, “do your homework”.’

Quote me as saying I was misquoted.

GROUCHO MARX