Three dots (ellipsis) in quotation (speech) marks


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Use quotation marks to indicate 'alleged' or 'so-called'.

Quotations for 'So-Called'

Quotation marks can be used to indicate 'supposedly', 'allegedly' or 'so-called'.

Examples:

Peter's "mates" left him on the path to die.

(so-called mates)

The sheep were noticeably stressed. It must've been a very big "cat".

(In this example, the quotation marks play two roles. They show a quotation of somebody who claimed the culprit was a cat and also allude to the idea of a so-called cat.)

"rescue" - correct (it's not a real rescue)
(magazine article)

Using his father's equipment, Alexander found over 50,000 bacteria on a "clean" chopping
board.

(so-called clean)

JUST SAY IT ONCE

Quotation marks can be used to indicate 'alleged' or 'so-called'. There is no need to use these actual words when using quotation marks for this purpose.

Peter's so-called "mates" left him on the path to freeze.

(In this example, "so-called" and the quotation marks are doing the same job. This is known as tautology.)

Peter's so-called mates left him on the path to freeze.

Peter's "mates" left him on the path to freeze.

Recently, I booted out a bunch of supposed "professionals" and finished the job myself. I ended up having to redo half their work because it was so awful.

supposed "professionals"
"professionals"
supposed professionals
(magazine article)

DON'T USE QUOTATION MARKS FOR EMPHASIS

If you use quotation marks for emphasis, they might be read as meaning 'alleged' or 'so-called'. For example:

We sell "fresh" fish.