Qualifiers: To Quote or Not To Quote...

A few people have sent in questions this month asking whether they should use quotation marks in certain instances when writing a qualifying phrase or clause. We thought it would be useful in this issue to discuss when to use quotation marks when writing qualifiers.

Example 1: ... hand print NAZ, Phone, and the words: "Carolina Weekend Sweepstakes".

In this example, the official rules printed the qualifier in quotation marks. If the address also uses quotation marks, then we suggest that you use the quotation marks when printing the qualifier. If the address does not use quotation marks, then we would omit the quotation marks when writing the qualifier. In this case, the sponsors used the quotation marks to set apart the qualifying words from the rest of the rules.

Example 2: ... hand print NAZ, Phone, and the words: "Carolina Weekend" Sweepstakes.

In this example, the sponsors used quotation marks on certain words in the qualifier. We suggest you use the quotation marks exactly as shown. These quotation marks usually correspond to identical quotation marks in the address line, although there are cases in which the quotation marks in the qualifier and the quotation marks in the address line are different. Fortunately, it doesn't happen too often. This is a case in which the sponsor wants those words to appear in quotation marks, and you should write them exactly as shown.

If you are still in doubt about whether to use them, follow the rules exactly and write what's shown. We print everything exactly as it appears in the rules we find, so you can't go wrong if you follow the rules. Also, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send us mail.

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