Thursday, September 24, 2009

Using quotation marks with other punctuation


In recognition of National Punctuation Day, I’m going to briefly review the rules for the use of quotation marks with other punctuation (in American English).

Rules for using quotation marks with other punctuation

Comma: always inside (,") the quotation marks

Period: always inside (.")

Semicolon: always outside (";)

Colon: always outside (":)

Question mark: inside (?") only if it is part of the text quoted; otherwise outside ("?)

Exclamation point: inside (!") only if it is part of the text quoted; otherwise outside ("!)

The Takeaway: The rules for using quotation marks with other punctuation are simple. Just memorize these six rules. Exceptions are rare.
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Posted by Joe Roy at 8:49 AM
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7 comments:

  1. kahSeptember 25, 2009 at 10:13 AM

    Whew. I think I got them right. Thanks for clarifying. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sara J. HenrySeptember 25, 2009 at 10:28 AM

    But different in the UK, right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2009 at 11:04 AM

    Something I've always wondered: how to use a single quote and a double quotation mark together?

    "yyyy yyy 'xxxx xxx xxxx'."<-- the way I usually do it, but I feel like it looks really weird

    "yyyy yyy 'xxxx xxx xxxx'," He said. <-- And this looks even worse to me!

    "yyyy yyy 'xxxx xxx xxxx.'"<--- But this doesn't seem correct :/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joe RoySeptember 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM

    Sara J. Henry said...
    But different in the UK, right?

    Right! In this post, I am discussing USA conventions only.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe RoySeptember 25, 2009 at 11:51 AM

    Karen Amanda Hooper said...
    Whew. I think I got them right. Thanks for clarifying. :)

    You're welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Josh SchimelSeptember 25, 2009 at 12:04 PM

    In the UK, only punctuation that was actually part of the quote goes inside the quote. Everything else goes outside. Makes more sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Joe RoySeptember 25, 2009 at 1:50 PM

    isachi said...

    . . .

    "yyyy yyy 'xxxx xxx xxxx.'"<--- But this doesn't seem correct

    Hello isachi,

    Thanks for commenting. To the best of my knowledge, it is correct, except that you need to insert a space between the two quotation marks at the end.

    ReplyDelete

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