How to Embed Quotations (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: 8702
When you embed quotations, you’re weaving short quotations into your own sentences. It makes your AQA GCSE English Literature essays read fluently and keeps your analysis focused on the writer’s methods — exactly what you need to achieve the highest marks.
This page shows you how to use quotations in an essay by embedding them step by step, with worked examples from Macbeth, An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol.
What is an embedded quotation?
An embedded quotation is a short quotation that sits inside your own sentence. Embedding quotations means your sentence still makes sense when you read it aloud, with the quotation as part of it.
An embedded quotation contrasts with a dropped quotation, which stands on its own. A dropped quotation is usually longer, and it leaves the reader to work out why you chose it.
Dropped quotation | Embedded quotation |
|---|---|
Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to hide his plans. “… look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t.” | Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to “look like the innocent flower” while he plots in secret. |
The embedded version is shorter. It also points the examiner straight at the key image you’ve selected, the “innocent flower”, so you are ready to analyse it, and the examiner can see you are using precise references.
Why does embedding quotations matter in GCSE English Literature?
The AQA English Literature mark scheme rewards you for using references to the text to support your ideas. Embedding quotes helps you do this well in three ways:
It keeps your quotations short, so your analysis can focus on key words
It makes your writing fluent, so your argument is easy to follow
It saves time and memory in the exam, because short quotations are easier to learn
Short quotations matter most in a closed-book exam (when you don’t have access to the text, like for An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm). It is much easier to learn a few short quotes for each theme or character than to learn whole speeches.
How to embed quotes in an essay
Here is how to embed a quote successfully in your work, in five steps:
Choose a short quotation: a single word or a phrase of about two to six words that supports the point you’re making
Write your point including the short quote as part of the sentence, so the sentence makes sense when read aloud
Make sure the sentence is grammatically correct, and change a word in square brackets if it does not
Cut words you don’t need with an ellipsis (…)
How to use square brackets and ellipses
Square brackets let you change a word so the quotation fits your sentence. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens writes, “The cold within him froze his old features”. The “him” in the sentence refers to Ebenezer Scrooge, so using square brackets allows you to write that Dickens shows how “[t]he cold within [Scrooge] froze his old features”.
An ellipsis shows that you have cut words out. The Inspector tells the Birlings, “We don’t live alone… We are responsible for each other.” Using ellipses lets you highlight only the most relevant words in the text for the point you’re making.
Only change or cut words if the meaning stays the same.
How to quote poetry and verse
Use a forward slash to show where a line of poetry or verse ends. In ‘Ozymandias’, Shelley describes a statue with a “frown / And wrinkled lip”. Keep the capital letter at the start of the new line, because that is how the writer set it out.
You can also do this for lines of Shakespeare, but examiners won’t really expect this.
How to quote stage directions
Stage directions are part of the play, so you can embed them too. For example, in An Inspector Calls, Priestley asks for lighting that is “pink and intimate” until the Inspector arrives, when it becomes “brighter and harder”.
Name the writer when you quote a stage direction, because no character speaks it.
How to punctuate an embedded quotation
Put the quotation marks around the writer’s words only
If you quote a fragment (an incomplete sentence), put your own full stop after the closing quotation mark: Scrooge is “solitary as an oyster”.
Use double quotation marks for quotations, and single quotation marks for a quotation inside a quotation
How many quotations should you use?
There is no set number, and examiners reward references to the text as well as direct quotations. A good rule of thumb is one or two short quotations (or references to the text) in each paragraph, each followed by analysis.
A few short, embedded quotes analysed closely will earn far more credit than a long list that you only mention.
Quoting from memory
Some of your exams will not give you the text. You can still refer to it closely in two ways:
Refer to a moment in your own words, such as “when the Inspector describes Eva’s death”
A precise reference in your own words is better than a quotation you are not sure of.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Short quotations are easier to remember and easier to analyse. A single word is often enough, as long as you zoom in on it straight away and explain its effect.
For example, you could write: “Dickens compares Scrooge to an ‘oyster’, which suggests he has shut himself off from other people. It also hints that something precious might be hidden inside him.” You’ve used one word from the text and turned it into two interpretations, which gives you a detailed point from a single quotation.
What does an embedded quotation look like?
The table below shows the same point written three ways. Each version embeds the quotation more naturally and analyses it more closely.
Version | An Inspector Calls |
|---|---|
Weak | Mr Birling is selfish. This is shown when he says, “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”. This quote shows that he is selfish. |
Better | Priestley presents Mr Birling as selfish when he says that “a man has to mind his own business”. |
Strong | Priestley presents Mr Birling as selfish when he insists that a man “has to mind his own business”. The phrase “his own business” makes life sound like a company, which suggests Birling sees other people only in terms of profit. |
The weak version repeats its point and drops in a long quotation. The strong version embeds a short phrase and then analyses the key words.
Version | Macbeth |
|---|---|
Weak | Macbeth feels guilty. He says, “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” |
Strong | Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s guilt when he admits that his mind is “full of scorpions”. The image suggests his thoughts are painful and dangerous, as if they are poisoning him from the inside. |
What are the common mistakes when embedding quotations?
Long quotations: copying out a whole sentence or speech leaves you less time to analyse, and makes it harder for the examiner to see what your key words are
Dropped quotations: a quotation on its own line, with no sentence around it, is clunky and lacks fluency
“This quote shows…”: repeating the same phrase after every quotation prevents your analysis being more precise
Misquoting from memory: if you are unsure of the exact words from the text, use a reference in your own words, and definitely never invent quotations!
What can you write instead of “this quote shows”?
Use a verb that says what the words do. Try “suggests”, “implies”, “reveals”, “emphasises” or “conveys”. For example: The phrase “full of scorpions” suggests Macbeth’s guilt is poisoning his thoughts.
Embedding quotations in your AQA English Literature exam
AQA assesses your use of quotations through AO1, which asks you to “use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations”.
This table shows how to use quotes in an essay for each part of your two exam papers:
Paper | Question | What you have in the exam | How to embed |
|---|---|---|---|
Paper 1 | An extract | Embed quotations from the extract, then add short learned quotations or references from the rest of the play | |
Paper 1 | An extract | Embed quotations from the extract, then add short learned quotations or references from the rest of the novel | |
Paper 2 | No text | Embed short quotations you have learned, or refer to key moments in your own words | |
Paper 2 | One named poem | Embed quotations from the named poem (which is printed on the exam paper), and short learned quotations or references from your second poem (which is not) | |
Paper 2 | Both poems | Embed short quotations from both poems, which are printed in full on your exam paper |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
In the Paper 2 modern text question, you won’t have the text in front of you. That’s why it’s really important to learn three or four short quotations for each main character and theme, each no longer than a short phrase.
When you can’t remember the exact words, use a precise reference instead. For example, you could write: “When Sheila refuses to take back her engagement ring at the end of the play, Priestley shows how far she has changed.” A fully analysed reference like this will earn you more than a long quotation you’re unsure of.
Sources
Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor (eds), 2005, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition), Oxford University Press
Priestley, J.B. (1992). An Inspector Calls. Heinemann.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Project Gutenberg eBook #46. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46
AQA. (2015). Past and Present: Poetry Anthology. GCSE English Literature (8702). AQA.
AQA. GCSE English Literature (8702) Specification. AQA.
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