Are there certain rules when punctuations i.e. period, exclamation, and question mark can be placed inside or outside the quote, or both?

Question

Which of these sentences are using the proper usage of punctuation?

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes".

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes.".

Or is there a certain rule when all of the sentence is correct especially when writing novels or stories.

I have edited it already. My question is different. – Jaeger Jay Jul 04 '15 at 05:09 — Jaeger Jay, Jul 04 '15 at 05:09
Still looks like a duplicate to me. – curiousdannii Jul 04 '15 at 05:10 — curiousdannii, Jul 04 '15 at 05:10

Aishwarya A R · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-04T04:36:08.903

2

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Placing the full stop before the closing quotation is the so-called US convention.

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes".

Placing the full stop after the closing quotation is the so-called UK convention.

These are just conventions, not hard and fast rules. Poets and novelists have the artistic licence to deviate from the norm.

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes.".

Using two end marks isn't very common. However, there are some people who tend to include one end mark before the quotation mark and another one after it. Considering the aforementioned sentence, the first full stop is used to mark the end of the statement being quoted("I'll let you know if anything changes."). The second full stop suggests the end of the entire statement(Nicolo said....). Usage of two different end marks also depends on the situation and the meaning you'd like to convey.

For example,

Did she really say, "I love you"?
I heard him yell, "Do you love me?"

It is also correct to write, I heard him yell, "Do you love me?".(but it's not very common, as I mentioned before)

Source: Grammar Monster

edited Jul 04 '15 at 04:36

answered Jul 04 '15 at 04:21

Aishwarya A R

2,614

The period after your second example should be behind the quote instead of in front of it (slight typo) – john2546 Jul 04 '15 at 04:35
2

An established user like yourself should be able to recognise questions which are obvious duplicates, and should flag them instead of answering them. – curiousdannii Jul 04 '15 at 04:49
you're too harsh @curiousdannii... too harsh. – Jaeger Jay Jul 04 '15 at 05:10
1

@Jaeger Jay: You shouldn't worry too much about it. You're a new user and you will, as time progresses, understand the rules followed here. – Aishwarya A R Jul 04 '15 at 05:18
@curiousdannii: My bad. I didn't know that there was a similar question posted before. – Aishwarya A R Jul 04 '15 at 05:19

Are there certain rules when punctuations i.e. period, exclamation, and question mark can be placed inside or outside the quote, or both?

1 Answers1