Where Does the Comma Go? Using Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

Hmmm….Does the period go inside the quotation marks? Or does it go outside? Where does the question mark go?

Standards for using quotation marks with other punctuation differ in American English versus British. But the standards are pretty easy. Here are the guidelines for using quotation marks with other punctuation — American style.

1 Commas and periods ALWAYS go inside the quotation marks. It doesn’t matter if the quote is the whole sentence or just a few words at the end. 

• “I hear you got promoted,” said Joe.
• I wrote a short story called “The Odd Duck.”

2. Semicolons and colons ALWAYS go outside the quotation marks. These punctuation marks aren’t usually used with quotation marks, but that is the standard if you should have such a construction.

• Read the story “The New Doll”; write a summary of the story for homework.

3. Question marks and exclamation points are a little different but treated alike. If the question mark (or exclamation point) belongs to the entire sentence, it goes outside the quotation marks. If the question mark (or exclamation point) belongs just to the quoted material, it goes inside the quotation marks. AND, if both the entire sentence and the quoted part are both questions (or exclamations), the default place to put it is inside the quotation marks. Do not use two question marks! (You can also, of curse, rewrite the sentence to avoid the issue.)

• I just heard Miguel ask, “Are we there yet?”
• Did I just hear Miguel say, “I hope we get there soon”? (Whole sentence is a question but quoted part is not.)
• Did I just hear Miguel ask, “Are we there yet?” (Both quoted section and whole sentence are questions. Default place for question mark is inside.)

And it is that simple. 

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Kind of late notice, but if you happen to be near Venice, Florida, I will be exhibiting my books at the Book Fair on Saturday, March 26 from 9-3.  Tent 6.

Coming Soon to this blog:

Quiz on Italics and Quotation Marks

Guest post for Poetry Month: April