Punctuation Before Or After Quotes

Only the quoted material is a question so the question mark belongs only to the quote and must remain within the quotation marks.

Punctuation before or after quotes. The unpunctuated lead in is most commonly used with run in quotations but it is also appropriate for introducing block quotations that flow directly from the. Use a colon after an introduction that is an independent clause or if the quotation is at least one sentence. The entire sentence is a question so the question mark goes after the quotation marks 2 she said how many people are here unlike the previous example the entire sentence is not a question. You can use a colon a comma or nothing before a quotation.

In the uk the tendency is to place them outside. In short when deciding what punctuation to use when introducing a quotation follow the rules we just described and then use your best judgement. Colons and semicolons are placed outside quotations while question marks and exclamation marks follow the logic of the sentence. Here you have three options.

In any case block quotes don t need quotation marks to set them off from the remaining text even though they are direct quotes. This page has examples showing the different conventions for placing punctuation inside or outside quotation marks. A very short quotation may also be introduced without punctuation. Quotation marks are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech a quotation a phrase or a word.

Remembering jane straus. When the quoted material flows directly from your introductory text no punctuation should be used before the quotation. Quotations must have appropriate punctuation. So that s your tip for today.

Block quotes are long quotes that are separated from the surrounding text. Not only do you have to follow different rules depending on what other punctuation marks you mix with your quotation marks but people in different countries also follow different rules so you may see quotation marks handled differently in high quality. When the quotation is merged into a clause no punctuation is necessary to divide them. In the us periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks.

If the quotation comes before he said she wrote they reported dana insisted or a similar attribution end the quoted material with a comma even if it is only one word. Usually they appear as a separate paragraph or series of paragraphs with a different font a change in the line spacing or a wider margin. In order to determine how to punctuate the phrase that comes before a quotation you need to know whether the phase is an independent clause. If the introduction is not an independent clause and most aren t you can use a comma.