Punctuation with quotes

Question

Is the period in the correct place in the following sentence:

The applicant shall design a stormwater treatment facility that complies with the June 2009 version of the "City and Borough of Juneau Manual of Stormwater Best Management Practices".

Ferdis · Accepted Answer

Yes, but I'm not sure the quotes are used correctly <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Anonymous · Answer

In the United States, the period is always inside the quotation marks: "...Best Management Practices."

BarbaraPA · Answer

AnonymousIn the United States, the period is always inside the quotation marks: "...Best Management Practices."

Agreed. Put the period inside the quote.

Ferdis · Answer

Oh, I see. In AmE the comma goes inside, but in BrE it goes outside because it is not part of the thing quoted. This same rule is, however, followed for exlamation and question marks in AmE.

(BrE)

John said, "Everybody must act now."

John said we "must act".

Kimlrobles · Answer

Well, I can finally put this one to bed: In The Grammar Bible, which I love as a reference, it states that "the comma and the period go inside the closing quotation marks at all times. There are no exceptions to this rule" (Strumpf and Douglas 446).

Ferdis · Answer

kimlroblesWell, I can finally put this one to bed: In The Grammar Bible, which I love as a reference, it states that "the comma and the period go inside the closing quotation marks at all times. There are no exceptions to this rule" (Strumpf and Douglas 446).

That must be an American bible then For example, the Penguin Writer's Manual states, "When the quoted words do not form a full sentence, then there should be no capital letter and the full stop should appear outside the inverted commas because it belongs to the sentence in which the quotation appears, not to the quotation itself ... American usage differs from British usage at this point. In American usage, full stops and commas come inside the quotation marks." All the reference books I have agree on this point. Frankly, I find the British rule more logical. In American usage the full stop is only placed inside the quotation marks by convention because of the way type setting was done. Other punctuation marks are placed outside. Apparently, these did not, like the full stop, shift position when printing.

Kimlrobles · Answer

Yes, I unwittingly forgot the "world wide" part of this forum. How colonial of me! By the way, thank you for the history lesson.  I happen to agree that the British way is more logical.<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/15.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/15.gif' alt='Emotion: geeked'/>

Punctuation with quotes

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