Distance between quotation mark and text

Question

I'm using \usepackage[autopunct=true]{csquotes} with \textquote{...} and \enquote{...} for quoting but, it seems to me that the left quotation mark is too close to the text, especially when it begins with "t".

Is it correct?

\documentclass[11pt,openright]{book}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[autopunct=true]{csquotes}

\begin{document}

Some text \textquote{text of quotation}.

Some other text \enquote{text of quotation}.

Some text \textquote{other text of quotation}.

Some other text \enquote{other text of quotation}.

Some other text ``text of quotation''.

Some other text ``other text of quotation''.

\end{document}

Perhaps a ligature correction \/ is an option: \textquotes{\/text of quotation}? — , Feb 07 '17 at 08:16
Thank you, @ChristianHupfer, Schweinebacke suggest to me a solution with lmodern, I think I'll use that if it has no contraindication. — CarLaTeX, Feb 07 '17 at 09:12
No problem for me ... it was a suggestion only, not a eloborate answer like Schweinebacke provided — , Feb 07 '17 at 09:13
You should also add the example with the explicit quotes, for better comparison. — egreg, Feb 07 '17 at 09:18

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 07 '17 at 08:45

The distance between the quote and the following letter depends on the kerning information of the font. This is a decision (or missing decision) of the font designer. csquotes also provides a fallback setting, if the font does not have a corresponding kerning pair. The fallback can be set by the optional argument of between the closing outer mark and the opening inner mark of \DeclareQuoteStyle. The default definition of (the American variant of) style english at csquotes.def is

\DeclareQuoteStyle[american]{english}% verified
  {\textquotedblleft}
  {\textquotedblright}
  [0.05em]
  {\textquoteleft}
  {\textquoteright}

Changing the 0.05em does not change anything in your example. So it seems, that for European Computer Modern (the font you are using because of \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} the optional fallback kerning is not used.

Nevertheless you could force another kerning after \textquotedblleft using the \kern primitive:

\documentclass[11pt,openright]{book}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{verbose,tmargin=3cm,bmargin=3.5cm,lmargin=4cm,rmargin=3cm,marginparwidth=70pt}
\usepackage[autopunct=true]{csquotes}
\DeclareQuoteStyle[american]{english}% verified
  {\textquotedblleft\kern0.01em}% force additional kerning
  {\textquotedblright}
  [0.05em]% Fallback only for fonts without kerning
  {\textquoteleft}
  {\textquoteright}

\begin{document}
    \raggedright
    Some text \textquote{text of quotation}.\\ Some other text \enquote{text of quotation}.\\ Some text \textquote{other text of quotation}.\\ Some other text \enquote{other text of quotation}.
\end{document}

But note: This would add extra kerning independent of the font and independent of the letter that follows the double quote!

An alternative would be to use a font with improved kerning, e.g., Latin Modern:

\documentclass[11pt,openright]{book}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{verbose,tmargin=3cm,bmargin=3.5cm,lmargin=4cm,rmargin=3cm,marginparwidth=70pt}
\usepackage[autopunct=true]{csquotes}

\begin{document}
    \raggedright
    Some text \textquote{text of quotation}.\\ Some other text \enquote{text of quotation}.\\ Some text \textquote{other text of quotation}.\\ Some other text \enquote{other text of quotation}.
\end{document}

Thank you, I'll use the solution with lmodern. – CarLaTeX Feb 07 '17 at 09:02 — CarLaTeX, Feb 07 '17 at 09:02

Distance between quotation mark and text

1 Answers1