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Question

British quotations1.A- Miss Parsons then said, "How did you answer him when he asked you, 'How do you know'?"OR SHOULD IT BE- 1 B- Miss Parsons then said, "How did you answer him when he asked you, 'How do you know?' "1A or 1B per British punctuation?2. All she said was "No". [Full stop outside the quotes as shown because I'm essentially quoting what she said? Yes or no?]3. She said, "No." [Full stop inside because it's a direct quote from her?]Thanks!!!!

Fandorin · Accepted Answer

I have heard of British pronunciation, but never of punctuation.

Tanit · Answer

Hi,

As far as I can remember, on the basis of what I was taught at my British University ...

1.A- Miss Parsons then said, "How did you answer him when he asked you, 'How do you know'?"
OR SHOULD IT BE-
1 B- Miss Parsons then said, "How did you answer him when he asked you, 'How do you know?' "
1A or 1B per British punctuation?

1B. The question mark belongs to the question, which is enclosed within inverted commas, so it must precede the closing inverted comma.

2. All she said was "No". [Full stop outside the quotes as shown because I'm essentially quoting what she said? Yes or no?]

This is, I think, debatable.

As far as I know, Americans would write this way:
All she said was "No."
and British would do that as well, because you quote a complete sentence ("No.").
(see, for instance, this example taken from guidelines on punctuation by a British university:

President Nixon declared "I am not a crook."
or have a look at the third point http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/learning/study_skills/basic_skills/speech_marks.aspor at these .)

3. She said, "No." [Full stop inside because it's a direct quote from her?]
OK, period inside for the same reason as in #2.

Note that traditional British punctuation would use single inverted commas where you have speechmarks and viceversa:

Miss Parsons then said, 'How did you answer him when he asked you, "How do you know?"'
All she said was 'No.'
She said, 'No.'

Reference: http://www.ox.ac.uk/branding_toolkit/writing_and_style_guide/punctuation.html

Quotation marks

Use single quotation marks for quotes, and double quotation marks for a quote within a quote:
‘I have an existential map; it has “You are here” written all over it.’...

Well, If I'm mistaken somebody will correct me.

Please advise

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