Why comma inside quotes

But note that in most modern typefaces only the opening mark is an inverted comma; the closing mark consists of a comma oriented normally. Both marks are raised above the baseline. He also contributed to the revisions of the last two editions of Kate L. Order the book Subscribe online.

Please see our commenting policy. Why are commas and periods exempt from this logic? Chicago v. Oxford If you examine works published in English before , you will find a near-universal placement of commas and periods before a closing quotation mark, whether single or double. Or was it? So did semicolons, but not colons the numbers refer to sections in the Manual : But why?

Punctuating at the Baseline Whereas colons and semicolons rise to the level of lowercase letters question marks and exclamation points are even taller , commas and periods hug the baseline. Which style do you prefer? Fortunately, neither one is the very last word on the matter. Take these two sentences, for example: This is a test, so pay attention.

No one does, apparently. British newspapers, for example, often use double quotation marks. Related posts. Loading Comments Email Name Website. Usually, they appear as a separate paragraph or series of paragraphs with a different font, a change in the line spacing, or a wider margin.

If you have to follow a style guide, you should check it for best practices. The person reading your work needs to know where the quote starts and where it ends. What about some trickier quotation mark rules? Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks?

This question mostly refers to the sentence-ending punctuation marks— punctuation marks that introduce a quote are never placed within quotation marks. Sentence-ending punctuation is a whole different story. 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 :.

If they apply to the quoted material, they go within the quotation marks. If they apply to the whole sentence, they go outside it :. So now you know how to deal with quotation marks and punctuation and capitalization, but what if the quote you want to take already contains quotation marks? This can happen, too. Say you want to write a direct quote in which someone is praising their favorite chapter from one of the Harry Potter books.

Would you do it like this? You might even manage to confuse your word processing program. In the first example, the phrase that is being exclaimed is in quotation marks. Therefore, the exclamation mark is contained within the quote. However, in the second example, the larger sentence is the question, therefore the question mark is placed outside. Anytime quotation marks are used again, we are talking about the American system here , commas and periods are placed inside the quotation marks, while colons and semicolns always go outside.

Periods and commas are also placed inside quotations in other situations. Note that in the example about the Latin word amare, the word could have been also set in italic type, as we did in this sentense.

Its also worth noting that using italic or underlining — not quotations marks — are the better choice to emphasize a word. For more punctuation pointers, check out our archives. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sign in. Log into your account.

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