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italics and quotes

English translation: only quotation marks

12:04 Jun 2, 2006
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Printing & Publishing / Style
English term or phrase: italics and quotes
I've working on a sentence that includes a quote from a law:

As codified in section 4 subsection 1 sentence 1 EStG, the profit is calculated as the “difference between the operating assets at the end of the fiscal year and the operating assets at the end of the previous fiscal year, increased by the value of the withdrawals and reduced by the value of the deposits.”

In the original (German) document, the last part is not only set apart by quotation marks, but also italicized (except for the very first quotation mark).

How is this is done properly in English textbooks? If it happens to be okay to use quotes and italics, are the quotes and final punctuation also italicized?

I hope that was clear enough. Thank you! :-)
Derek Gill Franßen
Germany
Local time: 12:24
Selected answer:only quotation marks
Explanation:
Using both of them is superfluous. Quotation marks clearly show that part in question is taken from elsewhere - there is no need to emphasize the text with italics.

I would opt for quotation marks in this case - simply because you repeat word by word what was said in section 4.1. Italics would be likely to mean: this is very important.

Periods and commas always precede closing quotation marks (The Chicago Manual of Style, 6.8).

If possible, the opening quotation marks should precede "the" - i.e., if the sentence in Section 4.1 contains "the".

If you stick to the original format, then:
CMS, 6.3: Punctuation and font: primary system -- All punctuation marks should appear in the same font---roman or italic---as the main or surrounding text, except for punctuation that belongs to a title or an exclamation in a different font...
6.6 ... parentheses and brackets should appear in the same font---roman or italic---as the surrounding text, not in that of the material they enclose.

***
6.3 has several examples, among them:

We heard his cries of "Help!"

No period; the exclamation mark and the quotation marks are italicized. So, this is what you should do if you keep the original format.
Selected response from:

Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 12:24
Grading comment
Thank you! :-)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +5only quotation marks
Attila Piróth


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
only quotation marks


Explanation:
Using both of them is superfluous. Quotation marks clearly show that part in question is taken from elsewhere - there is no need to emphasize the text with italics.

I would opt for quotation marks in this case - simply because you repeat word by word what was said in section 4.1. Italics would be likely to mean: this is very important.

Periods and commas always precede closing quotation marks (The Chicago Manual of Style, 6.8).

If possible, the opening quotation marks should precede "the" - i.e., if the sentence in Section 4.1 contains "the".

If you stick to the original format, then:
CMS, 6.3: Punctuation and font: primary system -- All punctuation marks should appear in the same font---roman or italic---as the main or surrounding text, except for punctuation that belongs to a title or an exclamation in a different font...
6.6 ... parentheses and brackets should appear in the same font---roman or italic---as the surrounding text, not in that of the material they enclose.

***
6.3 has several examples, among them:

We heard his cries of "Help!"

No period; the exclamation mark and the quotation marks are italicized. So, this is what you should do if you keep the original format.


Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 12:24
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thank you! :-)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nick Lingris: Let us also say that italics would be WRONG in this case.
40 mins
agree  Ken Cox: of course, item 6.8 of the CMS only applies to a US target audience...
1 hr
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
3 hrs
agree  Andreea Bostan
8 hrs
agree  William [Bill] Gray
8 hrs
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