Which sentence shows the correct placement of quotation marks? A) "Didn't the travel agent say, 'All tips are included in the package price'?" B) Didn't the travel agent say, "All tips are included in the package price"? C) Didn't the travel agent say, "All tips are included in the package price"? D) "Didn't the travel agent say, 'All tips are included in the package price'?"

The sentence that shows the correct placement of quotation marks is option C: Didn’t the travel agent say, “All tips are included in the package price?”

Quotation marks are used to denote speech, quotations, titles of short works, and occasionally for emphasis or other specific uses. The correct placement of quotation marks is important in order to clearly indicate which parts of the sentence are directly quoted or spoken. Here are some guidelines on using quotation marks:

1. Quotation marks are placed at the beginning and end of the quoted material. 2. Periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks in American English. 3. Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material but outside if they pertain to the whole sentence. 4. When quoting a sentence within a sentence, you don't necessarily need to capitalize the first letter of the quoted material unless it is a proper noun or if the quote is a complete sentence on its own.

Using these rules, let's analyze the options given:

A. The quotation marks were used incorrectly because they must be around the words that are actually being quoted. Also, the sentence incorrectly places the punctuation outside the quotation marks.

B. Only part of what the travel agent said is quoted, so it misleads the reader into thinking that only part of the sentence was spoken by the travel agent.

C. This is correctly punctuated and quoted. It includes the entire statement by the travel agent within the quotation marks, and it places the question mark inside the quotation marks because it is part of what the travel agent said.

D. The quotation marks are incorrectly placed at the beginning of the sentence without including the quoted material, and the comma is incorrectly placed before the quotation marks instead of inside them.

Remembering these rules will help you use quotation marks correctly in your writing.