Comments on: Period Goes Inside Quotation Marks

By: Jazz

Jazz — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:18:38 +0000

Does the “Period goes inside quotation marks” apply to period/any punctuation mark goes inside parentheses?

By: Peter Perkins

Peter Perkins — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:03 +0000

It seems to me that common sense dictates: If one is quoting a complete sentence, then the period should go inside the quote. If only select words or partial phrases are quoted, the period should be outside the quotes.

By: Stephen Thorn

Stephen Thorn — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:52:39 +0000

Let’s stir the hornets up a bit more, ya’ll.
I had a similar quandry in the past and consulted the Perdue University’s online English lab about it. My question concerned using punctuation inside quotes as an Internet search term. I wrote to them:
“When specifying an Internet link, are punctuation marks placed inside the quotation marks, assuming the punctuation mark is NOT part of that link? For example: In the search engine, type “Energy”.

My concern is that including the period as part of the quote will cause the hyperlink not to function correctly.”

Their response: “If you are simply suggesting a search term as in the example you give, you
have done it correctly, with the word in quotes and the punctuation outside.
If you are citing a website or including a hyperlink, you can set it off
with these symbols .”

Hope this helps clear up a little confusion on this subject.

By: Precise Edit

Precise Edit — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:20:28 +0000

A little more fuel for the fire:

In response to our recent article “The Brits Got It Right: Punctuation with Quotations”, a visitor posted this comment in reference to British English conventions:

“The punctuation goes inside if being quoted and outside if not. Simple, really.”

I agree with this statement. The British English rules for puntuations with quotations have always seemed to make more sense, and be more consistent, than the American English rules.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:54:21 +0000

I am a little late to this discussion–which appears to have ended–but I thought I would add a comment from a UK perspective.

I was taught that I should not place anything within quotation marks that was not part of the quote itself, including punctuation necessary to my sentence construction. A quoted phrase was to be treated as a unmodifiable unit, including the quotation marks, for the purposes of punctuation.

That was in the Seventies. Whether such a rule is still applied, or even taught, I do not know.

Out of curiosity, I checked a couple of books written by British writers within the last few years and both place punctuation outside quoted phrases. That is hardly meaningful as a guide to general usage, of course. They just happen to be within easy reach.

The difference between placing commas and periods inside or outside a closing quotation mark does not seem great; I doubt I even notice it in reading and would have no concern using either form in writing. A question or exclamation mark though… That would make me pause.

Dave