single quotes

American  

plural noun

1. one pair of single quotation marks, written as (‘ ’) and used especially for a quotation within another quotation.

   He said, “I told you to say ‘Open, sesame’ when you want to enter the mountain.”

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• single quotes vs. double quotes

Example Sentences

Page 7: Double quotes inside double quotes in Hallam quotation replaced with single quotes.

From Tolstoy on Shakespeare A Critical Essay on Shakespeare by Chertkov, V. G. (Vladimir Grigorevich)

In the story "The Village Doctor," the use of double and single quotes was partially omitted, and inconsistent with the balance of the book; this has been corrected.

From Tales from Blackwood Volume 5 by Various

Page 14: Double quotes inside double quotes amended to single quotes.

From Early Theories of Translation by Amos, Flora Ross

In the 1870 text, dialogue has “modern” punctuation using single quotes: ‘To this place,’ said Melissa, ‘have I taken....’

From Alonzo and Melissa The Unfeeling Father by Mitchell, I. (Isaac)

The following changes have been made to the original text: Page 30: Changed double quotes to single quotes: 'Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,'Page 64: "reader." changed to "reader,"Page 65: "home," changed to "home."

From Triumphs of Invention and Discovery in Art and Science by Fyfe, J. Hamilton