Punctuation Quotes At The End Of A Sentence

If you use an exclamation point or a question mark do not use a comma.

Punctuation quotes at the end of a sentence. When the speaker tag comes last put a comma inside the quotation marks and a period at the end of the sentence. If the enclosing sentence is the question then the quotation marks go inside. I had no idea it was so late already said jenna. An exclamation point within the quotation is followed by quotation marks then by a parenthetical citation.

Generally speaking the end punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. If it s just a word or a short phrase it s usually prefereable to put the punctuation outside the quotation marks. The period at the end of the sentence goes inside the quotation marks. Don t be silly said the clown.

If the quoted sentence is the question or exclamation then the quotation marks go outside. My favorite poem is mr. Punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks if it is a direct quote. The period after the citation ends the sentence.

Quoting the words of others. Sentence ending punctuation is a whole different story. For more on the proper use of multiple punctuation at the end of a sentence see here. Peter however didn t believe him.

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. If for example the whole sentence were. Jane said she was fed up us jane said she was fed up. The gang remarked lola s candidate is a sure bet lola replied he s not my candidate dumb rule 2.

He told me to tell you he would deal with it and that he would let you know when he had done so there would be no thought of including the full stop inside the inner quote marks but only at the end of the sentence. Run in quotations and block quotations. If the quotation is a complete sentence or a major part of one you should put the punctuation inside the quotation just as in american english. The rules for placement of closing quotation marks with question marks and exclamation points though is the same on both sides of the atlantic.

There was a storm last night paul said. Short quotations can generally be run in to the main text using quotation marks. There are two ways to incorporate quotations in your writing. Don t be silly said the clown.