Can someone tell me when you use both a double and single quote mark in an essay. We are writing an essay with quotes from a book, and in the example sometines it shows "'I had every reason to ...'" and other times it's just "I had every reason to believe..." It says single quote marks are for setting off a quotation within another quotation, so if you quote from a book do you use "'??

Here's an example from the site linked below.

"John Doe cited a sample done by Larry Jones that revealed 'ten percent of the air we breath is polluted.'"

http://calstaging.bemidjistate.edu/en3160f01/writingremedies/MLAformatcitations.html

Thank you for your help.

You're welcome.

When it comes to using both double and single quote marks in an essay, it typically depends on the style guide you are following (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago). However, there is a general rule to follow and some common scenarios in which you might encounter this.

The general rule is to use double quotation marks as the primary method for indicating direct quotes within your essay. For example, if you want to quote a sentence or phrase directly from a book, you would use double quotation marks around the quoted text. For instance: "I had every reason to believe..."

Now, let's address the specific example you provided: "'I had every reason to ...'" and "I had every reason to believe...". The difference here could be due to how the quoted text is being presented in your source material, rather than a specific rule of punctuation. It's possible that the book from which you are quoting uses single quotation marks as their primary method for indicating quotes.

In certain cases, when you need to include a quotation within another quotation, you can use single quotation marks to set off the nested quotation. This is known as a quotation within a quotation. For example, if your source material contains a sentence like: "'I had every reason to believe,' said the character, 'that everything would work out.'" In this case, the double quotation marks are used for the outer quotation, and the single quotation marks are used for the nested quotation.

However, in your essay, it's generally sufficient to stick to using double quotation marks for direct quotes from the book. If the book you're quoting from uses single quotation marks as its primary method for indicating quotes, you can choose to follow that style to maintain consistency with the original text.