A SPECIAL USE OF QUOTATION-MARKS

Quotation-marks，as you must know，are used to mark quotations，as in：“Where are you going，Mary？” asked John. “I am going to my uncle’s, John，” replied Mary.

There is a special use of quotation-marks，however，which I am afraid you do not know. Perhaps most Chinese students do not know it. It is not usually mentioned in grammars. It is not to be found in dictionaries. Here is an example of it：I know that “expert” very well.

One who calls a man an “expert” instead of an expert means that that man is a bad expert or is not an expert at all，though he thinks himself an expert. An “expert” is the same as a so-called expert. The quotation-marks applied to an expert make him feel very much despised — more despised，perhaps，than if he were called a dog or a pig. If you call a man a dog or a pig，others know that he is not a dog or a pig，and that man knows that others know that he is not a dog or a pig，and that man may not feel very much despised or very much hurt. But if you enclose him in quotation-marks，he will feel very much despised and very much hurt，because he knows that you do not，and cause others not to，think him what he himself thinks he is.

Quotation-marks may be applied in this way not only to nouns but also to other parts of speech. A friend of mine once wrote to me that he did not like a certain girl because she was a “modern” one. Do you think that girl would have liked to be called “modern” instead of modern？