How do you use quotations in the middle of a sentence?

Answer 1

Let's use the first line of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as an example. If you are using the FULL quote, it stands by itself, in quotes:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (Lincoln)"

If using just a piece of the quote in your own sentence, it would be something like this:

Lincoln stated that the new nation was "...dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (Lincoln)"

If you are using a smaller quotation in the middle of your sentence, it would be:

Lincoln's statement that "...all men are created equal..." still applies to our society today.

If you want to start your sentence with the quote, but you are not using the beginning of the quote--so there is no First-letter capital letter, you must show that YOU made it a capital letter, such as:

...[A]ll men are created equal," Lincoln stated, but men of color today still struggle to be equals with other men.

NOTE 1: Do not use bold on quotes. Bold was used here to make it easier to see.

NOTE 2: You must use ellipsis, 3 dots, when you leave out a portion of a quote, to show there were words before, or after, the piece you used.

NOTE 3: While it is easiest to just use a full quotation, sometimes part of the quote has nothing to do with what you are writing. Sometimes a quote contains a part that does not add to what you are writing now. For example, few students would need to include "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation..." at the beginning of one of their sentences.

NOTE 4: You should use the shortest amount from another author/speaker. That is "fair use", but using a lot from an author/speaker means the reader cannot see what YOU think.

NOTE 5: Sometimes, it is better to simply paraphrase, to put the quote in your own words. Example of your words might be: At Gettysburg, Lincoln described that the US was born from the proposition of equality. Though his words do not say women or races, this equality applies to all human beings, regardless of gender or race.