Text Formatting ⇒ Double Quotation Marks

[gremlint]

I am a very new user, and I'm am frustrated by the apparent inconsistency between user tutorials and what actually happens with LaTeX when I use it.

I would like to use double quotation marks in text. But I understand that the double quotation on the apostrophe key is actually used as a formatting symbol. I would rather not have to type \textquotedblleft and \textquotedblright every bloody time I need a double quotation. But the alternative — typing ' ' is not working, despite that fact that two tutorials told me that it would.

This does not inspire confidence in the usefulness of going up this steep learning curve of LaTeX.

Please help.

[gremlint]

Well, I think I just got my answer from another old thread. It seems that double typing the key to the left of the "1" key (i.e. ` `) will produce a substitute for \textquotedblleft ... while typing a regular " will still produce a \textquotedblright ... although I have no idea why.

Sorry for cluttering the board.

[cgnieder]

Indeed every tutorial should mention this:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
 A ``quoted'' word.
\end{document}

Besides there is also csquotes:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\begin{document}
 A \enquote{quotation with an \enquote{inner} quotation.}
\end{document}

Regards