Quotes And Punctuation Marks

Run in and block quotations.

Quotes and punctuation marks. Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark in american english. Semicolons colons and dashes always go outside the closing quotation mark. Quotation marks are used only with direct quotes. The quotation mark is also used to designate speech acts in fiction and sometimes poetry.

If you re quoting a written source you should still put the quote between quotation marks unless you plan to paraphrase it. In this case sarcastically. The primary function of quotation marks is to set off and represent exact language either spoken or written that has come from somebody else. Less commonly single quotation marks are used in place of parentheses in which case the translation is not set off with commas.

If your sentence is a question place the question mark outside the quotation marks. Avoid this invalid usage. If the quoted words are a question put the question mark inside the quotation marks. Direct quotations come in two different forms.

Some of you detail oriented okay picky people may want to know what to do when the quotation and the sentence are both questions. This rule isn t just for speech. The single quotation marks in the above sentence are intended to send a message to the reader that friend is being used in a special way. If the entire sentence is a question put the question mark outside the quotation marks.

Since you will most often use them when working with outside sources. In summary these are the ways you combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks. If your quote is a question place the question mark inside the quotation marks. The same rules apply for exclamation marks.