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Aug 6, 2021 · Quotation Marks with Commas, Periods, and Other Punctuation. As in the example above, a comma is used before quotation marks to introduce a direct quote. If the description of the quote’s speaker is placed after the quotation, a comma is always placed within the quotation marks.
While American style has periods and commas going inside single and double quotation marks, question marks follow logic. Question marks in a quotation within a quotation can get tricky. Example: “Why do you keep saying, ‘This doesn't make sense’?”
In the US, commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks. In the UK, the tendency is to place them outside, unless they appear in the original quotation, in which case they go inside. This table summarizes how the main punctuation marks are used with quotations:
Feb 1, 2018 · The MLA Handbook notes, “By convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks” (267). Thus, in the following sentence, the comma is placed after taught: “You’ve got to be carefully taught,” wrote Oscar Hammerstein II.
To that I give you our Rule 4 of Quotation Marks: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, even inside single quotes. (Emphasis added.) Really, always? Always. Never place the period outside the quotation marks? Never. Are there no exceptions? No exceptions.
A period can be used to introduce a block quotation when the introductory text stands on its own as a complete sentence. In such cases, a colon is also proper—and sometimes preferable. No punctuation. When the quoted material flows directly from your introductory text, no punctuation should be used before the quotation.
May 21, 2019 · In US English, commas and periods that follow a quote are placed within the quotation marks. In UK English, all punctuation marks are placed outside the quotation marks, except when they are part of the original quotation.
