What do I call a quote in an essay

Question

After submitting my essay, my English teacher marked the word "quote" as an error. Is this incorrect word usage, and should I be using "excerpt," quotation," or "event" here? The quote is from Frederick Douglass's speech, "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?"

“See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! weeping, as she thinks
  of the mother from whom she has been torn.” 
  
  Although this quote
  was not from one of Douglass’s personal experiences, Douglass told it
  like a story, as though he was there.

Kit Z. Fox · Answer

You will see in this Lexico definition that the first meaning of quote is as you have used it, and the second is "Give someone (the estimated price of a job or service)".

Interestingly, in this Lexico definition of quotation, the first meaning is as text citation, and the second is also "A formal statement setting out the estimated cost for a particular job or service."

This article from English Grammar lends credibility to my own experience with pedantic teachers who feel that quote ought to be exclusively used for price estimates and quotation ought to be exclusively used for citing text, although as demonstrated above, both words can be used to mean both of those things.

It may be that your teacher is one such person. However, it may be your word choice as well. The sentence structure you used could be interpreted by the reader to mean that the quoted sentence itself was not part of Douglass's experience, which makes the use of the word "quote" confusing.

Based on what you wrote, I believe you mean to convey that the event that Douglass is describing in the quote was not one that he experienced personally. In that case, excerpt would not work because that refers to a section of produced work. Event (or incident, experience, occasion, etc) would probably make sense. Anecdote, which describes "a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident" as defined by Merriam-Webster, would probably be the best choice for this context.

Greybeard · Answer

Quote and Quotation are perfect synonyms in their main meanings and both are extant.
OED

Quotation (n.) 5.a. A passage quoted from a book, speech, or other source; (in modern use esp.) a frequently quoted passage of this nature.

first recorded in 1621 and still current.

1962   S. Raven Close of Play i. iii. 38   ‘Sui memores..alios fecere merendo... It is a quotation’, said Hugo, ‘familiar to all men of even moderate education.’
2005   Oxford American. Fall 72/1   I planned to sprinkle the magic book liberally with quotations from Faulkner.
7. An amount stated as the price of a stock or of any commodity for sale. Also: a contractor's stated price for a particular job.
1944   R. V. Boughton in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder xii. 378/2  There are usually conditions which make it very prudent to obtain many quotations for each job as it is estimated.
1993   Gibbons Stamp Monthly Jan. 66/1   This stamp always has a hefty quotation in continental catalogues and despite its astronomical rise it is still worth acquiring if you can afford it.

Quote (n.) 2.a. A quoted passage or remark; = quotation n. 5.Recorded earliest in quote mark n. 1885.
1885   Pall Mall Gaz. 23 Jan. 6/1   The ‘interviewer’ (..has not the time come for leaving out the quote marks?).
1993   Humanist in Canada Winter 38/2   The categories with the largest numbers of Russel quotes include Belief, Democracy, Education.
3. = quotation n. 7.
1934   Brainerd (Minnesota) Daily Dispatch 31 Dec. 3/5   The following are today's custom smelters' quotes for delivered copper (cents per pound).

To me, "quotation" is slightly more formal and I agree with your teacher's advice on the basis of (i) style and (ii) no examiner will object to "quotation".

What do I call a quote in an essay

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