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Train book 253 Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Quoting a pronoun or proper noun at end of dialogue

Does anyone know what the American standard is for quoting a pronoun or proper noun at the end of a sentence in dialogue? I'm not sure where the period goes. Here's what I'm working with:

"He needs a name. Can't keep calling him 'dog'. What do you think?"

"He didn't have a name, so we all just called him 'the Devil'."

Or should it be:

"He needs a name. Can't keep calling him 'dog.' What do you think?"

"He didn't have a name, so we all just called him 'the Devil.' "

I was under the impression that, when referring to someone in this way, you put the period outside the single quotation marks. When I research nested quotations, the rule for American literature is to always include the period inside, but I can't find any examples of this exact type of sentence structure.

Advice?






  

Top answer

It is only the closing double quotation mark that dictates where the punctuation goes. " A period follows a single quotation mark at the end of a sentence wherever it occurs: "He needs a name. Can't keep calling him 'dog'.

— Anonymous

  • It is only the closing double quotation mark that dictates where the punctuation goes.
  • " A period follows a single quotation mark at the end of a sentence wherever it occurs: "He needs a name.
  • Can't keep calling him 'dog'.
  • ) This is from Chicago , but it also makes sense.
  • A period just looks all lonely and small way out there after double quotation marks have already squared off the end of the sentence, but the single quote lets it sit there quite comfortably.
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2 Answers
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It is only the closing double quotation mark that dictates where the punctuation goes. The occurrence of a single quote inside the double has no effect on the placement of the other marks: "… 'the Devil'." A period follows a single quotation mark at the end of a sentence wherever it occurs: "He needs a name. Can't keep calling him 'dog'. What do you think?" (There are special coventions in the

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train book 253American standard

The Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition (6.9), says, “Periods and commas precede closing quotation marks, whether double or single.”
Example:
People regularly use quotation marks when it's not "necessary."
Source:

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