Commas and Periods: Inside or Outside Quotation Marks?
©Judy Vorfeld
The Gregg Reference Manual, Ninth Edition, says, "Periods and commas
always go inside the closing quotation mark. This is the preferred
American style."
Examples: She said, "I'll be there soon." ... "When you
are finished," he said, "we'll leave."
Then there is the British style, which places the period outside when it
punctuates the whole sentence, and inside when it punctuates only the quoted
material.
So, if you're in the U.S., you'll probably place your periods and
commas inside the closing quotation mark. Here's more from Purdue
Online Writing Lab.
Try to use quotation marks sparingly. There's a tendency today
for people to use them to emphasize far too many words. They
often use them in e-mail and on Web sites an a kind of informal
way to italicize a word or phrase, but people regularly use them
when it's not "necessary." See examples at the Gallery of
Misused Quotation Marks.
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