QUOTATION MARKS QUIZ
DIRECTIONS: Choose the correct answer from the multiple choice options that refer to the paragraph
below. When deciding, consider the proper usage of quotation marks and any other material needed to conform
to correct MLA documentation style (consider brackets and ellipses) when quoting the exact words of a source.
The following is the ORIGINAL source cited in the sentences below:
During these leisure times, those old notions about freedom would steal over me again. When in Mr. Gardner's
employment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of excitement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but my life;
and in thinking of my life, I almost forgot my liberty. I have observed this in my experience of slavery—that
whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to
be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is
necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as
possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be
made to feel
that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.
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(The quotation begins on p. 58; the last words on that page are "He must be able to detect no
inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel"; the rest of the quotation is on p. 59.)
This is the Works Cited page entry for the paragraph above:
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. 1845. Ed. Philip Smith. New
York: Dover Publications, 1995.
_____ (1) Which of the following illustrates the correct use of quotation marks AND the proper way to
incorporate ellipses into quoted material?
A. “It is necessary [. . .] to annihilate the power of reason” to make slaves feel contented, notes Douglass
(58).
B. “It is necessary . . . to annihilate the power of reason” to make slaves feel contented, notes Douglass
(58).
C. “It is necessary to annihilate the power of reason” to make slaves feel contented, notes Douglass (58).
D. It is necessary “to annihilate the power of reason" to make slaves feel contented, notes Douglass (58).
_____ (2) Which one of the following is an INCORRECT direct quote?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Douglass argues "that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one” (58).
Douglass argues, “[T]o make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one” (58).
Douglass argues that to make “a contented slave,” it is necessary to make “a thoughtless one” (58).
"[T]o make a contented slave," Douglass argues, "it is necessary to make a thoughtless one" (58).
_____ (3) Which one of the following is a CORRECT direct quote?
A. To accept his condition, Douglass states, “A slave should detect no inconsistencies in the slaveholding
system” (58).
B. To accept his condition, Douglass states, a slave should “detect no inconsistencies in the slaveholding
system” (58).
C. To accept his condition, Douglass states, a slave should detect no inconsistencies in the slaveholding
system (58).
D. To accept his condition, Douglass states, a slave should “detect no inconsistencies” in the slaveholding
system (58).
_____ (4) Which of the following is an ACCURATE direct quote?
A.
B.
C.
D.
According to Fredrick Douglas, “Slavery is right” (58).
According to Frederick Douglass, a slave “must be made to feel that slavery is right” (58-59).
According to Frederick Douglass, a slave “must be made to feel that slavery is right” (58).
According to Frederick Douglass, “A slave must be made to feel that slavery is right” (58-59).
_____ (5) Which one of the following is a CORRECT direct quote?
A. Douglass recalls, “When in Mr. Gardner's employment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of
excitement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but my life; I almost forgot my liberty” (58).
B. Douglass recalls, “When in Mr. Gardner's employment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of
excitement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but my life; . . . I almost forgot my liberty” (58).
C. Douglass recalls, “When in Mr. Gardner's employment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of
excitement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but my life;” “I almost forgot my liberty” (58).
D. Douglass recalls, “When in Mr. Gardner's employment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of
excitement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but my life; [. . .] I almost forgot my liberty” (58).