# A Grammar Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-grammar-question/378044 "2006-10-27T00:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrightSmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BrightSmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightSmite)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-grammar-question/378044/1 "2006-10-27T00:19:58Z")
I did a search but didn’t find my answer. My question: If a publication were to quote an individual, would it ever be appropriate to include quotation marks in the quote? Background: I was reading an article and this was written: > [@](#): > > It isn’t that Engle doesn’t respect boxers, “I respect 100% of boxers,” but he doesn’t like to be called out by a man who will probably never even agree to fight him (in a real match). So, I’m trying to figure out if they (the publication) are telling me that Engle actually said the words “in a real match” or if they (the publication) are just sticking it in there in case I don’t already know… Assuming that the writer was in 100% grammar compliance, isn’t there a better way to write this? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-grammar-question/378044/2 "2006-10-27T00:30:32Z")
[QUOTE=BrightSmite] I did a search but didn’t find my answer. My question: If a publication were to quote an individual, would it ever be appropriate to include quotation marks in the quote? Background: I was reading an article and this was written: So, I’m trying to figure out if they (the publication) are telling me that Engle actually said the words “in a real match” or if they (the publication) are just sticking it in there in case I don’t already know… Assuming that the writer was in 100% grammar compliance, isn’t there a better way to write this? [/QUOTE] You ask about the expression “in a real match” so did you mean to ask if parentheses should be used inside a quote? Properly brackets should be used inside a quote for explanatory material so if the publication were just explaining the quote to you, it should have been " … [in a real match]." If the speaker actually said “in a real match” as an aside, this punctuation might be OK I guess. Of course if it was a quote from a written source and parentheses were in the original writing, then they’d be correct as well. ---
**Author:** ![iano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@iano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iano)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-grammar-question/378044/3 "2006-10-27T00:36:38Z")
Quotes are done as “So he told me, ‘he said to her, “you can’t say that.”’” Your quote looks like it’s just bad writing. I think this is the punctuation the writer was looking for: It isn’t that Engle doesn’t respect boxers–“I respect 100% of boxers,” he said–but he doesn’t like to be called out by a man who will probably never even agree to fight him (in a real match). But that’s not great either. ---
**Author:** ![BrightSmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BrightSmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightSmite)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-grammar-question/378044/4 "2006-10-27T01:22:03Z")
[QUOTE=OldGuy] You ask about the expression “in a real match” so did you mean to ask if parentheses should be used inside a quote? Properly brackets should be used inside a quote for explanatory material so if the publication were just explaining the quote to you, it should have been " … [in a real match]." If the speaker actually said “in a real match” as an aside, this punctuation might be OK I guess. Of course if it was a quote from a written source and parentheses were in the original writing, then they’d be correct as well. [/QUOTE] Wow, how embarrassing. My question didn’t make much sense because … I misread the paragraph (and then proceeded to make a post here on SDMB about my _phantom_ grammar confusion). Forrest for the trees or something like that… Thanks for your help anyway!