The inverted commas, dashes, parentheses and capitalisation happen to be the last few items on our list of punctuation marks. (1) The inverted commas or quotation marks have four basic functions ...

Inverted commas help as they envelop a quotation in a crisp clasp of reassuring accuracy, or add obvious snark. Their absence, by contrast, casts a post-modern pall of uncertainty over the words.