Quotation marks

[Dingbatgirl]

Could somebody tell me when to use the double quotation marks: "

Also when to use the single ones: '

I feel as if I should know, but I don't!

I was about to post on the advise/advice thread a quotation from my ds's reading book "...keep up the practise at home." Is this the correct usage of the "?

It's a matter of taste. The crucial thing is to be consistent. And whichever you use, use the opposite for quotes inside quotes.

For example:
My mother told me, "I was talking to your father, and he said, 'I only realised men were feckless and lazy when I started reading Mumsnet.'"

eether, eye-ther