Parker gathered in Lexington, Massachusetts, a town near Boston. A militia is a force of armed civilians pledged to defend their community. About one-third of the Lexington militia were Minutemen, trained to âact at a minuteâs warning.â They had heard that the British were coming. Parkerâs troops had never faced soldiers. Soon they
Quotation marks would only have to be used on thoughts if the<br />thoughts were someone else's. If the thoughts came from a book, computer source, or some other source, then quotation marks should be used. However, the writer of the essay does not have to quote his or her <i>own</i> thoughts.
Though not necessarily logical, the American rules for multiple punctuation with quotation marks are firmly established. (See here for a brief explanation of the British style.) Commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks, even though they arenât part of the original quotation. Correct: âThe best investments today,â according to Smith, âare commodities and emerging-market stocks.â.