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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Punctuation within quotes?

0 When using punctuation within quotes, should the punctuation be inside the quotaion marks or outside? 02br
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00Thanx 0-
  

Top answer

0 To me, the rules regarding punctuation around quotation marks are not always logical. 2 In long quotations, left-hand marks are placed at the beginning of every paragraph, as well as at the end of the selection. 3 Quotation marks are usually not used when the quoted matter is set in smaller type or in paragraphs indented on both sides.

— Rvw

  • 0 To me, the rules regarding punctuation around quotation marks are not always logical.
  • 2 In long quotations, left-hand marks are placed at the beginning of every paragraph, as well as at the end of the selection.
  • 3 Quotation marks are usually not used when the quoted matter is set in smaller type or in paragraphs indented on both sides.
  • 4 Single quotation marks enclose a quotation within a quotation.
  • 5 Quotation marks enclose titles of short poems, paintings, lectures, articles, and parts or chapters of books.
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32 Answers
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0 To me, the rules regarding punctuation around quotation marks are not always logical. To 'remember' them, I extracted the following from 01i00Webster's Third New International Dictionary02i00: 02br
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0013.1 Direct quotations: "When I am dead," said one of the keenest minds, "lay a sword on my coffin." 12br
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Grrrrrrr. Thanks is spelled t-h-a-n-k-s, not t-h-a-n-x! Also, Christmas is not spelled X-m-a-s!

Quotation marks at the end of a sentence should always come after the ending punctuation mark, for instance:

My mother's name is "Rita."

The boy asked, "When will we go?"

If it is put before the closing punc
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My mother's name is "Rita".
Hmm. Looks fine to me.

Interesting discourse, Anon.

MrP
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AnonymousQuotation marks at the end of a sentence should always come after the ending punctuation mark, for instance:

My mother's name is "Rita."

The boy asked, "When will we go?"

If it is put before the closing punctuation mark, the closing punctuation mark is left dangling, is quite i
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Hi Anon,
If it is put before the closing punctuation mark, the closing punctuation mark is left dangling, is quite irritating and shows ignorance on the part of the writer.
Many Americans do follow this rule; however, many in other parts of the world don't.

I have both British and American friends, and I used to consider whom I'm writing to when I decided on my punc
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For the definitive on this see Robin Williams' books, The PC Is Not A Typewriter and The Mac is Not A Typewriter. The punctuation goes inside of quotes at the end of a sentence.
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Contrary to what "Anonymous" wrote, there are times where the ending punctuation goes inside quotes:

Examples:

Tom looked up and replied, "What can I do for you?"

Lucy stubbed her toe. "Ouch!" she cried.
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In British English the punctuation goes within the quotation marks when the quotation is a complete sentence, but when the quotation is only an excerpt of the whole quotation the punctuation goes outside the quotation marks.
In American English it is different.
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For american English, a period ending a sentence should always go inside the quotation marks. A question mark ending a sentence goes inside the quotation marks if you are quoting a question, outside if you are asking a question, inside if both. You should never have punctuation both inside and outside the quotation marks.

She said, "Go to the store."
Did she say "Go to the store"?
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I find these rules at http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp very helpful.

Rule 1 Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, even inside single quotes. Examples The sig
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