Richie Allen wrote:Does anyone know the rule for sure? I very often see single words in quotes, that fall at the end of the sentence, where the punctuation was placed outside of the marks and every time I seethe.
I really don't know. I go back and forth on it and even searched google for a while to no avail. You see it differently in a lot of official sorts of publications as well. Informally, I've decided that I like the period outside the quotes. My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
Richie Allen wrote:Does anyone know the rule for sure? I very often see single words in quotes, that fall at the end of the sentence, where the punctuation was placed outside of the marks and every time I seethe.
I really don't know. I go back and forth on it and even searched google for a while to no avail. You see it differently in a lot of official sorts of publications as well. Informally, I've decided that I like the period outside the quotes. My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
I'm sure someone around here knows.
I used to know how to punctuate properly, but I seem to have lost the ability. Now I just go with what feels right. Seems to be working out so far.
Richie Allen wrote:Does anyone know the rule for sure? I very often see single words in quotes, that fall at the end of the sentence, where the punctuation was placed outside of the marks and every time I seethe.
I really don't know. I go back and forth on it and even searched google for a while to no avail. You see it differently in a lot of official sorts of publications as well. Informally, I've decided that I like the period outside the quotes. My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
I'm sure someone around here knows.
If the word that is quoted is the end of the quoted sentence, it goes "inside." because you keep the quotes proper in their entirety. If it's a quoted word not from the end of the quoted sentence, it goes on the "outside".
haltz wrote: My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
For the life of me, I don't know why I didn't simply restructure the sentence. Instead I wasted time asking my future ex-wife and future ex mother-in-law, who gave me their best guesses, without really knowing for sure. I can't believe this still bothers me almost 18 years later.
Richie Allen wrote:Does anyone know the rule for sure? I very often see single words in quotes, that fall at the end of the sentence, where the punctuation was placed outside of the marks and every time I seethe.
I really don't know. I go back and forth on it and even searched google for a while to no avail. You see it differently in a lot of official sorts of publications as well. Informally, I've decided that I like the period outside the quotes. My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
I'm sure someone around here knows.
Punctuation goes inside quotes in American publications.
Richie Allen wrote:Does anyone know the rule for sure? I very often see single words in quotes, that fall at the end of the sentence, where the punctuation was placed outside of the marks and every time I seethe.
I really don't know. I go back and forth on it and even searched google for a while to no avail. You see it differently in a lot of official sorts of publications as well. Informally, I've decided that I like the period outside the quotes. My only real conclusion is that I should just say what I mean.
I'm sure someone around here knows.
I used to know how to punctuate properly, but I seem to have lost the ability. Now I just go with what feels right. Seems to be working out so far.
No doubt. My ability to punctuate correctly, as well as my ability to not write sentences with dangling prepositions, has fallen off the map. I don't think I'll ever recover. My spelling is still stellar.
