Embedding Direct Quotations

Source: Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Jörg Hempel, Wikimedia Commons

A direct quotation supports your argument or explanation. Your readers should not have any questions about how a particular quotation is relevant. It is your responsibility, not theirs, to clearly connect the quotation to your claim. You should never drop a quotation into your writing and let it stand alone, unloved, and seemingly disconnected from the information around it. Consider the lonesome quotation in these two sentences:

Source: Bald Eagle, kansasphoto, Flickr

The reader is left to make connections and figure out why the words are so important that they’re directly quoted. Additionally, even though both sentences are about bald eagles, they don’t flow together well stylistically.

Notice how much more meaningful, smooth, and logical the information is when the quotation is introduced and then embedded into this sentence:

Ah, that’s much better.

Speaking of better, I mentioned in the introduction that there are three types of direct quotations: acceptable, better, and best. Below is an explanation of each type. The list begins with a dropped quotation—unacceptable—and shows how each successive category of quotation improves on the previous one.

Source: Normandy Invasion June 1944, Wikimedia Commons

• Unacceptable embedding (dropped quotation): “The battle was lost before it began.” (Yikes! Who said it and in what context?)


• Acceptable embedding: The general said, “The battle was lost before it began.” (Oh, the general said it. But that’s very simple sentence construction, and what’s the context?)


• Better embedding: “The battle was lost before it began,” admitted the general. (The sentence structure and verb are certainly more interesting, but can’t the quotation or, at least the most important part of it, be smoothly embedded into a more sophisticated sentence?)


• Best embedding: General Arnold acknowledged defeat and admitted that the fight “was lost before it began.” (The sentence structure is good, and details have been added, but more importantly, the quotation is seamlessly embedded in the sentence. Someone listening to it would not know that a quotation was included.)

The bottom line is, embedding direct quotations makes writing more readable and sophisticated.

Make it clear to the reader which information comes from you and which comes from a source. A signal phrase is a phrase, clause, or full sentence that introduces borrowed material. Signal phrases cue the reader that the material comes from an outside reference. Varying your signal phrases keeps your writing from becoming monotonous: “according to Jane Doe,” “as Ms. Doe goes on to explain,” “as one critic points out,” “John Doe emphasizes,” “Doe insisted that,” “in the words of the president,” “John Doe observed that,” etc. Keep in mind that your word choice connects the source to your argument.

Signal phrases often incorporate verbs or verb phrases. The verb needs to fit the situation. Does the source claim, argue, observe, conclude, refute, or state? A list of verbs—a purposely long list—follows to help you think about possibilities for your own writing.

When you embed quoted material into your own sentences, be sure that the combination of your words with those from an outside source makes grammatical sense. Be sure that your verbs agree with their subjects, that pronouns agree with their antecedents, and that you maintain parallelism across your citation. You have been effective if someone listening to the sentence cannot tell where your words end and where the quotation begins. To ensure seamless reading, you may have to use ellipses (. . .) or brackets [ ].

The sentences below from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley show the most common uses of these punctuation marks. Consult the MLA Handbook for more examples.

Note: Also use four ellipses if an entire sentence is omitted from the middle of a paragraph.

Block quotations

If a direct quotation is more than four lines long within the text of your paper, it should be set off as a block quotation. A block quotation should be formatted like this:

Indent from the left margin one inch (two tabs). Double-space within, before, and after the quotation. Even though you’re using the writer’s exact words, do not enclose a block quotation in quotation marks. (Use quotation marks within the block quotation, however, if the passage you’re quoting contains them.)

Use the following sentences to practice embedding quotations. Try different ways of combining each group of sentences into one sentence that contains a properly embedded quotation. Rewrite the sentences using your notes. When you’re finished, check your understanding to see some suggested combinations. Remember that since there are several ways to embed quotations, your sentence may be correct even if it’s different from the suggested response. Pay special attention, however, to the punctuation in your sentence and in the suggested one.

1. Mr. Loftis was working in his fields yesterday. He saw something unusual. “The flying saucer appeared right before my own two eyes.”


2. Gretchen realizes something. She regrets that she screamed at her boyfriend, Ross. “I should think before I speak.”


3. “They don’t belong anywhere.” Jorge said this. He thinks that carnival workers have no real homes.


4. Teresa is talking to Lucy very quietly. “You close the window, and I’ll lock the door.”