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Do you agree with the punctuation in these examples? I'm using BrE style here.

  1. I like his sentence 'Be good to yourself and respect your elders.' (I say that the full stop goes inside the quote mark.)

  2. The email stated 'The meeting scheduled for June 12 has been cancelled.' (I say that the full stop goes inside the quote mark.)

  3. I love the adage 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' (I say that the full stop goes inside the quote mark.)

  4. Lou said, 'I heard Jonas say "Martha and Frank are getting a divorce." ' (I think the ending punctuation ." ' is good.)

  5. Ernie said, 'I didn't like it when Nancy called me a "schlepp".' (I think the ending punctuation ".' is good.)

  6. When Nancy screamed 'Shut the hell up and get out of my house!' she scared her children. (I think no commas are needed in this sentence.)

  7. When Bob said 'Be careful what you ask for', Nicholas began to weep. (I think only one comma here, yes or no?)

  8. When Rufus asked 'Where are the liquid refreshments?' his wife pointed to the fridge. (I think no commas are needed in this sentence.)

  9. The sign said 'Shoplifters will be prosecuted.' (I say that the full stop goes inside the quote mark.)

  10. The sentences 'Be careful what you ask for', 'Life is way too short', 'Always respect your elders', and 'No good deed goes unpunished' provided sound guidance to Nicholas. (I say commas go outside the quote marks.)

  11. Mike said, 'Don't be disrespectful to your parents.' (Full stop inside, I say.)

  12. 'I will,' Joe said, 'provide an explanation when the time is right.' (I say the comma and period go inside the quote marks.)

  13. 'I will provide an explanation when the time is right,' Joe said. (Again, comma inside.)

Thank you.

whippoorwill
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    They all appear to be correct. The only possible error is in 9: the full stop goes inside the quotation only if it was on the sign; outside if it was not--but you probably know this already. As a Canadian citizen, I grew up with the American style, but switched to the British one as soon as I found it. It looks far cleaner and seems more logical to me. – Anonym Feb 24 '14 at 17:29
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    To answer your title question: it is a magical place where the Grammar river flows a fresh stream of verbs and the nouns can live peacefully undisturbed. ;-). Sorry, couldn't help it. I'll try to answer your question seriously. – David M Feb 24 '14 at 17:29
  • Thank you so-oooo much! I added three more (11, 12 and 13) as you were posting. Do you agree with those too in BrE? – whippoorwill Feb 24 '14 at 17:31
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    #4 needs a comma to introduce the quote inside the quote. I'm not 100% on that, though. – David M Feb 24 '14 at 17:31
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    #6 is probably correct, but I don't think a comma after the quote would be wrong either. #8, same reasoning. – David M Feb 24 '14 at 17:33
  • Greatest grammar/punctuation site in existence. You are all so helpful. I'm making the rapid transition to BrE (as an American living in America), despite the pushback. It's much cleaner, clearer and logical. Please be patient with me, as I do not want to come across as a nag. I looked at older threads but some didn't address my particular and specialized queries. Again, thank you for your help, tutelage, wisdom and guidance. More appreciated than you'll ever know. :-) – whippoorwill Feb 24 '14 at 17:35
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    I should mention that I'm an American. But, the rules are similar enough that if you follow a logical consistency throughout, few will fault you for one vs. the other. – David M Feb 24 '14 at 17:36
  • David, do you use BrE style in your writing in America? Any pushback? – whippoorwill Feb 24 '14 at 17:38
  • I don't use it. But, I've read enough to be comfortable looking at it. I use American because it comes naturally after 34 years of having learned it that way. – David M Feb 24 '14 at 17:40
  • No 'house rules' at my work - none whatsoever. But yet there's pushback. Either set definitive rules or don't squawk, right? – whippoorwill Feb 24 '14 at 17:40
  • User 61979, do you concur with the BrE punctuation in sentences 11, 12 and 13 above? I'm only asking because you supported the previous 10 examples. Thank you kindly. Have a great day. :-) – whippoorwill Feb 24 '14 at 20:08
  • Does anybody agree with the sentence examples (11, 12 and 13 above) per BrE punctuation? – whippoorwill Feb 25 '14 at 16:03
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    All fine. A real problem occurs when you're quoting material from across the Atlantic: is it correct to re-punctuate? – Edwin Ashworth Feb 26 '14 at 00:39
  • A responder above said, 'The only possible error is in 9: the full stop goes inside the quotation only if it was on the sign; outside if it was not.' My question is, what if there was no terminal punctuation whatsoever on the sign itself (e.g. Shoplifters will be prosecuted) -- If this were the case, would we write: The sign said 'Shoplifters will be prosecuted'. <--Full stop outside the quotes to end the sentence, correct, and to indicate that no terminal punctuation existed on the sign itself? Is my understanding correct here? – whippoorwill Feb 27 '14 at 05:58

2 Answers2

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Now my British friend has emailed me saying that when a sentence starts with a dialogue tag, the full stop belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quote. He said that the following are punctuated correctly per BrE style.

~ I like his sentence 'Be good to yourself and respect your elders'. (He said period belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quotation.)

~ The email stated 'The meeting scheduled for June 12 has been cancelled'. (He said period belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quotation.)

~ I love the adage 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush'. (He said period belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quotation.)

~ Lou said, 'I heard Jonas say "Martha and Frank are getting a divorce".' (He said period belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quotation.)

~ Mike said, 'Don't be disrespectful to your parents'. (He said period belongs to the sentence as a whole, not to the quotation.)

~ 'I will', Joe said, 'provide an explanation when the time is right.' (He said the comma goes outside the introductory quote ['I will',] because the original sentence doesn't call for a comma at that point in the original sentence. The original sentence isn't 'I will, provide an explanation when the time is right'. He said if the sentence were 'I will provide an explanation,' Joe said, 'but I will do it only when the time is right', the comma would go inside the introductory quote ['I will provide an explanation,'] because in terms of punctuation a comma is required in that part of the sentence. The comma is separating two independent clauses separated by the coordinating conjunction 'but'. The original sentence here is: 'I will provide an explanation, but I will do it only when the time is right'. Hmmm. There's definitely some logic to that explanation.

If the sentence were 'I will provide an explanation', Joe said, 'but only when the time is right', the comma goes outside the introductory quote in this one because the sentence is 'I will provide an explanation but only when the time is right'. The clause after 'but' is a dependent one.

Does all this make any sense? Let me lay ... er ... lie down now. I have a migraine. This stuff has my head whirling.

whippoorwill
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  • Is the British Friend a recognized authority to quote, or is that a personal opinion of his? 2. The answerer's contribution to the answer appears to be limited to a mention of migraine. The 'answer' could have been better with a little effort (post the migraine episode).
    • – Kris Feb 28 '14 at 06:09
  • Excuse me? The mention of the migraine was used facetiously. And how could the answer have been better? What did you mean by 'post the migraine episode'? A lot of effort went into explaining his spin on this. I didn't see you contribute anything to this question other than with sarcasm. Don't be rude, please. – whippoorwill Feb 28 '14 at 12:16