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Healer Posted 9 years ago
Vocabulary
Do punctuation marks go inside the quotes?
In each case below the comma in the former and the full stop in the latter are right before the closing quotes. I had supposed logically they should be right after the closing quotes. The position of the punctuaton marks seem to interfere in or even interfere with the quoted sayings.
I wonder what if the punctuation mark involved is a question mark, not a comma or a full stop. Would it look funny? I havn't got an example using a question mark.
Please comment!
His critics think of issues in “black and white,” rather than discerning the distinctions in each individual’s case.
The temptation to “give glory to each other” and to exploit the faith for one’s own purposes is a persistent “cancer in the Church.”
I wonder what if the punctuation mark involved is a question mark, not a comma or a full stop. Would it look funny? I havn't got an example using a question mark.
Please comment!
His critics think of issues in “black and white,” rather than discerning the distinctions in each individual’s case.
The temptation to “give glory to each other” and to exploit the faith for one’s own purposes is a persistent “cancer in the Church.”
Top answer
This is a style choice. org/wiki/Quotation_marks_in_English#Order_of_punctuation
- This is a style choice.
- org/wiki/Quotation_marks_in_English#Order_of_punctuation
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10 Answers
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This is a style choice. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks_in_English#Order_of_punctuation
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Thanks,
So one is British practice and the other is American style to which my examples belong.
The article you recommended seems to say such style differences only apply to commas and periods, but not very clear regarding all other puctuation marks, such as question marks etc.
So one is British practice and the other is American style to which my examples belong.
The article you recommended seems to say such style differences only apply to commas and periods, but not very clear regarding all other puctuation marks, such as question marks etc.
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healerSo one is British practice and the other is American style to which my examples belong."British" and "American" style are the traditional labels, but in practice you may find the "American" style used in Britain, and possibly vice versa too.
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Thanks!
I suppose you mean we can sort of do them *****-nilly. It doesn't matter whether we put the punctuation marks before or after the closing quotes and it applies to all punctuation marks.
I suppose you mean we can sort of do them *****-nilly. It doesn't matter whether we put the punctuation marks before or after the closing quotes and it applies to all punctuation marks.
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healerI suppose you mean we can sort of do them *****-nilly. It doesn't matter whether we put the punctuation marks before or after the closing quotes and it applies to all punctuation marks.No, that's not true. Off the top of my head I would say it is only commas and full stops that can, in some styles, go somewhere different from their logical position.
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healerWhat about the punctuation marks?Sorry, I don't understand. What about them? Punctuation marks are what we have been discussing. What new question are you asking?
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healerDo we use question marks like the commas and periods?No, as I said, as far as I can think, question marks always go in their logical position. In other words, if they are logically a part of the quoted material then they go inside the quotes, whereas if they are logically part of the containing sentence then they go outside. One awkward case is when bot
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