Question Mark Inside Or Outside Quotes

All punctuation goes inside the closing quotation marks.

Question mark inside or outside quotes. Colons and semicolons are placed outside quotations while question marks and exclamation marks follow the logic of the sentence. In the final example the question mark belongs to the carrier sentence and not the quotation. Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark in american english. In american english periods go inside quotation marks.

Put the question mark inside ending quotation marks if the question belongs to the quoted source. The same rule applies to exclamation marks and dashes. According to ap style a question mark is inside quotation marks if that part is the question and outside the quotation marks if the whole sentence is a question. If the quote is a question or exclamation the punctuation mark goes inside the quotation marks.

However this is not always the case with exclamation points and question marks. Quotation marks are for when you want to use someone else s words in your writing. Question marks and exclamation marks sometimes go inside sometimes stay outside. If the quoted words are a question put the question mark inside the quotation marks.

When to use quotation marks. For example if the sentence is a question but the words in the quote are not the question mark would go outside the quotation marks. We had such a great time. Whether these punctuation marks go inside or outside quotation marks depends on context.

Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. If the question is not part of the direct quote it goes outside. Question marks and exclamation points require. For this reason it is placed outside the quotation marks.

Put it outside if the question belongs to the writer. This includes commas periods question marks and exclamation points. For other punctuation marks where the closing punctuation goes depends on which idea it refers to the sentence or the quote. Dashes colons and semicolons almost always go outside the quotation marks.

In summary these are the ways you combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks. Inside when the question belongs to the source the committee asked rather rhetorically does this rule really apply. Some of you detail oriented okay picky people may want to know what to do when the quotation and the sentence are both questions. Another exception is if the quoted material is a full sentence and stands alone i e without a carrier expression such as he said.

However this is not the case for all end punctuation marks. In the uk the tendency is to place them outside. Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks in american english. In the us periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks.