Punctuation Inside Or Outside Quotes
92 of the 6th ed.
Punctuation inside or outside quotes. As you might guess from our name apa style uses american style punctuation see p. The mla handbook notes by convention commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks 88. Place other punctuation inside quotation marks when that punctuation is part of what is being quoted such as a quoted question. Though not necessarily logical the american rules for multiple punctuation with quotation marks are firmly established.
Publication manual as do several other major style guides such as ap chicago and mla the table below elaborates with examples for each punctuation mark. Sentence ending punctuation is a whole different story. I m not sure that s exactly what. Julio cortázar wrote many short stories including la noche boca arriba.
However when ending a quotation in a question mark exclamation point colon or semicolon place the punctuation outside the quotation unless that punctuation is part of the original quoted language. In the united states the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks and colons and semicolons dashes as well go outside. In the next examples the terminal punctuation is part of the quotation so it stays inside the final quotation mark. Thus in the following sentence the comma is placed after taught.
This however is not true for other punctuation marks long answer. Use single quotation marks for quotations within quotations. The answer is both yes and no. If the question mark or exclamation point is part of your quotation it stays inside.
In the uk the tendency is to place them outside. The rule is the same for a list of titles. Colons and semicolons are placed outside quotations while question marks and exclamation marks follow the logic of the sentence. Outside or inside quotation marks.
You ve got to be carefully taught wrote oscar hammerstein ii. But then someone told me pay it no mind lad note that the period goes inside both the single and double quotation marks. In a town outside brisbane i saw tourists go home written on a wall. See here for a brief explanation of the british style commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks even though they aren t part of the original quotation.
In the us periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks. Does punctuation go inside quotation marks. There was a storm last night paul said. If the punctuation is part of the original quoted language place it inside the quotation marks.
This page has examples showing the different conventions for placing punctuation inside or outside quotation marks. Peter however didn t believe him. The period is unique among punctuation marks in that yes it always goes inside the quotation marks. Does the period at the end of the quote go inside or outside of the quotation marks.