Inverted Commas
The British name for quotation marks — the paired punctuation used to enclose direct speech and quoted material.
'Inverted commas' is the standard British and Commonwealth term for the marks that Americans call 'quotation marks'. The two names describe the same characters (' ' and " "), but the British name is older and more literally descriptive: an opening quotation mark really is an upside-down and reversed comma.
British house style traditionally reserves single inverted commas ('like this') for the outermost quotation and double inverted commas ("like this") for a quotation inside a quotation. American style reverses the priority. Both systems agree that the inner mark should be visually distinct from the outer, so that nested speech remains legible.
The choice matters more than it looks. Publications with international audiences must decide early which convention they follow and stick with it; readers notice the inconsistency long before they can name what is wrong. Digital publishers whose CMS defaults to American double quotes should audit their exports before printing anything in a British market.
Common mistake: assuming 'inverted commas' means only single marks. It refers to the punctuation family, not the specific glyph — a double inverted comma is still an inverted comma. Similarly, the American term 'quotation marks' covers both single and double.
“In British style: 'She said, "Bring the book back tomorrow."' In American style: "She said, 'Bring the book back tomorrow.'"”
Keep reading the glossary
The punctuation that signals direct speech or a quoted phrase — single or double, depending on locale.
A national style difference — double in American English, single in much of British English.
Curly typographic quote marks ('smart') versus the vertical marks of typewriters and code ('straight').
A quotation inside another quotation, distinguished by alternating single and double marks.