Where is period in quotation

Use a comma to introduce a quotation after a standard dialogue tag, a brief introductory phrase, or a dependent clause. Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself. Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence. General Writing Punctuation Quotation Marks. If you include the punctuation in the quoted section, this may cause the user to input the punctuation as well as the actual word or phrase.

In this case, put the punctuation outside the quotes, as in these examples:. In American English, the general rule for question marks and exclamation marks or points is this: If the quoted material ends with a question mark or an exclamation mark, the punctuation should be inside the quotation marks.

However, if the question mark or exclamation mark is not directly part of the quote, then the punctuation should go outside the quotation marks. As you can see here, if the quote itself is an exclamation or question, the punctuation mark is contained within the quotation marks:.

If the quoted words are embedded within a sentence that is an exclamation or question, then the punctuation goes outside the quotation marks, like this:.

There are certain punctuation marks that always go outside quotation marks. Here, both American and British English follow the same rule. Punctuation marks that go outside are:. The following are rules for punctuating inside closing quotation marks according to the standard American style guides :.

Knowing whether punctuation goes inside or outside of closing quotation marks is an important rule to learn and follow.

With some practice , you will soon be punctuating your quotations with ease. Using punctuation properly can make your writing more credible and convey what you intend to portray to the reader more easily. All rights reserved. Quick Reference Guide for Punctuation and Quotation Marks The following table shows how to place your punctuation in relation to the closing quotation mark in a passage or sentence.

For example: He said, "I'll be going to the party later. If you have to follow a style guide, you should check it for best practices. The person reading your work needs to know where the quote starts and where it ends. What about some trickier quotation mark rules?

Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks? This question mostly refers to the sentence-ending punctuation marks— punctuation marks that introduce a quote are never placed within quotation marks. Sentence-ending punctuation is a whole different story.

In the United States, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons dashes as well go outside :.

If they apply to the quoted material, they go within the quotation marks. If they apply to the whole sentence, they go outside it :. So now you know how to deal with quotation marks and punctuation and capitalization, but what if the quote you want to take already contains quotation marks?

This can happen, too. Say you want to write a direct quote in which someone is praising their favorite chapter from one of the Harry Potter books. Would you do it like this? You might even manage to confuse your word processing program.

But if you do it like this, everything will look much better:.