6.3 Quotation Marks in a Transcript

Blueprint topic 20207 asks you to "define how quotation marks are used in a transcript and identify their use in a sentence." In testimony, quotation marks answer one question for the reader: are these the exact words someone said or wrote?

Direct vs. indirect quotation

Direct quotation: the speaker repeats someone's words as that person said them. Use quotation marks.

A. And then he said, "We're not going to be able to keep this confidential." (Scalini key)

Indirect quotation: the speaker reports the substance. No quotation marks, and usually no comma before that:

A. He said that he and Officer Scalini had had an affair.

Clues to a direct quote: a change of person or tense ("I'm coming to see you" from a witness describing her own words at the time), a shift in voice on the recording, or phrases like he said followed by first-person speech.

Approximate quotes still take quotation marks when the speaker presents the words as a quote: He said something to Officer Scalini that, "I hope Gigi chokes on my blood after I kill myself," or something -- you know words to that effect. (Scalini key) The hedging stays outside the quotation marks.

Quoting yourself or a thought

Witnesses quote their own words or thoughts: And then I said, "All right. Give me a few minutes." A quoted thought may take quotation marks or none. Many transcripts omit them for thoughts (I thought, why is he here?). Be consistent.

Material read into the record

When an attorney or witness reads aloud from a document, statute, exhibit or prior transcript, put the words read in quotation marks, but only if the reading is word for word. Check the exhibit if you have it. A summary or paraphrase is not quoted.

The Guide to Judiciary Policy (§ 520.36.35(c)) sets the format for quoted material other than depositions: it begins on the tenth space from the left margin, with additional lines also beginning at the tenth space, "with appropriate quotation marks used."

Depositions read at trial

Because deposition testimony read at trial has the same effect as live testimony, the Guide (§ 520.36.35(a)(2)) keeps it in Q and A format, and:

• "each question and answer read from a deposition must be preceded by a quotation mark," and
• "at the conclusion of the reading, a closing quotation mark must be used."

          MR. PATEL:  Reading from page 12, line 4:
"Q.  Where were you on the night of June 3?
"A.  At home.
"Q.  Alone?
"A.  Yes."
          MR. PATEL:  Nothing further from the deposition.

Words used as words

Put a word or phrase in quotation marks when the speaker is talking about the word itself:

MR. McHENRY: Judge, I'm going to object to the term "seemed to be over it." (Scalini key)

Q. When you say, "A situation like this," how would you define this situation? (Scalini key)

Titles

AAERT's paragraphing sample puts a film title in quotation marks: I certainly wouldn't, not after seeing "Titanic." Short works and, in plain-text transcripts, other titles are commonly quoted. Italics are covered in Chapter 10.

Nested quotations

A quotation inside a quotation uses single quotation marks:

A. She told me, "He kept saying, 'I have a gun,' over and over."

Where other punctuation goes (American style)

Interrupted quotations

When the quoted speaker's sentence is broken by the witness's own words, close and reopen the quotation:

"I'd like to," she said, "but I can't."

AAERT's Scalini key shows a quote interrupted by the speaker's own restart:

And you had sent him a text or called him to say, "I'd like to" -- "I want to talk to you."

Common errors

• Quoting a paraphrase: He said "that he would come later." The word that marks indirect speech, so no quotation marks.
• Missing the capital: a full-sentence quotation starts with a capital letter: He said, "We're not going to..."
• Putting the period outside: ...the term "seemed to be over it". In American style, the period goes inside.
• Quoting the whole answer. A witness's own testimony is never put in quotation marks just because it is important. Quotation marks show a repeated utterance or text, not emphasis.

Practice

1. Audio: she told me he said I have a gun → She told me he said, "I have a gun." The witness is reporting his exact words.
2. Audio: she told me he said that he had a gun → She told me he said that he had a gun. Indirect: no quotation marks.
3. Audio: counsel reads from Exhibit 7 the parties agree to arbitrate all disputes → MS. LEE: Exhibit 7 says, "The parties agree to arbitrate all disputes." Confirm the wording against the exhibit if you have it.
4. Audio: what do you mean by the word soon → What do you mean by the word "soon"? A word used as a word, inside a question that belongs to the whole sentence.