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Left single quotation mark

Notation
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An opening quotation mark (‘) used to begin dialogue or quoted material in poetry.

Detailed Definition
This typographical mark initiates quotations or nested speech within poems; its curved shape distinguishes spoken from narrative voice, supporting dramatic monologue, dialogue, or intertextual allusion in lyrical composition.
Example
Example in poetry:
Left single quotation marks (‘) begin quotations in British poetry: ‘Alas!’, he cried; In dialogue poems, ‘ starts spoken lines; Some poets use ‘ for nested quotes within “”; In literary allusions, ‘To be or not’ references Hamlet; In minimalist verse, ‘love’ isolates the word; In multilingual poems, ‘ preserves original punctuation styles.
Additional Notes
Left single quotation mark: The left single quotation mark (‘) opens single-quoted speech or nested quotations in poetry; typographic correctness (curly vs. straight quotes) matters in publishing—its shape affects visual rhythm and reader parsing of dialogue or intertextuality.
Also Known As
opening single quote
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