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What do you call apostrophes that are used as quotation marks? For example

‘Yes, that’s all that happened,’ she replied.

or (Java)

char[][] letterBlock = {{'a','b','c'},{'d','e','f'},{'g','h','i'},{'j', 'k', 'l'}};

Or do you call ‘ and ' differently? 🤔

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  • Different computer programming languages have different names for characters; although not all give them names. C/C++ seems to use "single quotation mark". You can check documentation/standards for other languages if you're interested.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Dec 14, 2022 at 21:28

2 Answers 2

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They're called "single quotation marks" or "single quotes".

An apostrophe is just used singly for contractions, possessive 's, and the like.

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To answer your second question, I pasted what you typed into a word processor, and changed font and sizes to make things clearer. The symbol on the left, before 'and', is a single opening quote, and is ONLY used together with a closing single quote to enclose quoted text. This type of quote is often called a 'curly quote'.

The symbol on the right, after 'and', is a typewriter apostrophe, and is usually used in informal text, either as an opening or closing single quote, or as an apostrophe. It is often called a 'straight quote'.

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This is a curly closing quote. enter image description here which can also be used as a more formal apostrophe.

How to use an apostrophe

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