Does punctuation come before or after quotation marks?
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.
Do periods go outside quotations?
1. Periods and commas. In American English, a quote that comes at the end of a sentence will contain a period inside the final quotation marks.
Are periods always inside quotations?
In American English, periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark; semicolons, colons, asterisks, and dashes always go outside the closing quotation mark; and question marks and exclamation points require that you analyze the sentence and make a decision based on context.
Do you use a comma or colon before a quote?
Rule 1: Complete sentence: “quotation.” (If you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, use a colon (:) just before the quotation.) Rule 2: Someone says, “quotation.” (If the word just before the quotation is a verb indicating someone uttering the quoted words, use a comma.
Do you put a comma after said before a quote?
To identify the speaker of a quotation before the quotation appears, put a comma after the speaking-related verb (said, replied, stated, wrote, etc.).
Where do you put period before or after parentheses?
Punctuation Junction: Periods and Parentheses
- When part of a sentence falls inside parentheses and part falls outside, the period goes outside.
- When a whole sentence falls inside parentheses, the period goes inside.
- These two approaches are incompatible.
Do quotation marks go before parentheses?
Less commonly, single quotation marks are used in place of parentheses, in which case the translation is not set off with commas. Also, any punctuation otherwise required by the structure of the sentence is placed outside the single quotation marks.
Do you put a comma before a quote?
Does a colon go inside quotation marks?
The general rule is that commas and periods should be inside the quotation marks at all times, while all other forms of punctuation, such as question marks, colons, semicolons, and exclamation points, should be outside the quotation marks, unless they were contained in the original quotation.
When should punctuation be outside of quotation marks examples?
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: “There was a storm last night,” Paul said. Peter, however, didn’t believe him. “I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened.”