Quasi-quotation

Quasi-quotation is a linguistic device that facilitates rigorous and terse formulation of general rules about linguistic expressions while properly observing the use–mention distinction. It was introduced by the philosopher and logician Willard van Orman Quine in his book Mathematical Logic, originally published in 1940. Put simply, quasi-quotation enables one to introduce variables that stand for a linguistic expression in a given instance and are used as that linguistic expression in a different instance.