Comma

Question

A few quickies, please.1) Comma outside in BrE as exampled?When he said 'Be kind to others', he meant it.2) Comma after (!') as I've done below?When she screamed 'Oh my God!', she startled the children.3) Comma after (?') as I've done below?When she asked 'Why did you do that?', he had no reply.Thanks!! :-)

Dave_anon · Accepted Answer

Hi

This is just my personal view (from London):

1) In UK English, the punctuation falls inside the quotes if it belongs to the speaker but it falls outside if it belongs to the writer. If it is the writer's pause:

- When he said 'Be kind to others', he meant it.

If it is the speaker who is pausing then the comma can naturally go inside the quotes:

- He said 'Be kind to others,' and took a sip from his drink, 'then they will be kind to you'.

My understanding is that in US English, the comma always goes inside, but there is a difference in the UK

With 2) and 3) I would say that the exclamation mark or question mark already tell you that the speaker has paused, so there is no further need for punctuation there:

- When she screamed 'Oh my ***!' she startled the children.
- When she asked 'Why did you do that?' he had no reply.

I would say that you do not put punctuation on both sides of a quote mark: decide which is the more important mark and just use that one. In fact, you did this, in 1) because you didn't mark the end of the speaker's sentence with a full stop. That looks natural to me: the writer's comma marks the break well - you chose only the more important mark and omitted the full stop

Dave

Victo · Answer

Thanks, Dave.

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