Punctuation inside and outside of a quotation?

Question

How to punctuate a quotation which is an exclamation, at the end of a sentence which is a question?

The quotation is "Fire!"

The sentence is:

Did he really shout "Fire!"?

OK, this is simply the shortest example I can think of to illustrate the question, the actual quotation of concern is longer, and so is the question sentence. But if it is improper to use both the exclamation point and the question mark, I'd like to know why. Searching has only resulted in lots of hits regarding whether to put a single mark inside or outside the quotation.

Does this answer your question? Punctuation-Quote or Quote-Punctuation? — Chenmunka, Aug 19 '23 at 11:31
'Double punctuation' is usually ugly, and totally forbidden by some. But there's no way round using it the way you do to record faithfully. There are style guides that endorse its use. << Did he really shout "Why?"? >> is allowed by some (I'd use it), but << Did he really shout "Why!?"? >> is probably pushing things too far. — Edwin Ashworth, Aug 21 '23 at 11:47
Does this answer your question? Punctuating a quoted question within a quoted statement (different style guides' recommendation on double punctuation). — Edwin Ashworth, Aug 21 '23 at 11:51
Thanks @EdwinAshworth that is exactly what I was looking for! My vague recollections from high school English class were only of the comma and full stop being dropped, and I wasn't at all sure what was correct for this case. If you make that an answer, I'll accept it. — Victoria, Aug 24 '23 at 19:49
It's accepted policy not to duplicate material on ELU, Victoria. Think textbook rather than pure Q & A site. — Edwin Ashworth, Aug 25 '23 at 15:41
I just meant to duplicate your comment as an answer, including the link, not copying the content of the link? — Victoria, Aug 25 '23 at 20:25

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 19 '23 at 17:34

Exclamation marks aren't verbal utterances. They imply tone and manner of the utterance in written form. For example, the following sentence kind of makes sense as a literary device: John said, "!!!!" And the following sentence doesn't make much sense to describe someone actually speaking: John was heard to say "!!!!"

For your example:

Did he say "Fire!"?

would be more properly written

Did he say "fire"?

or, if the tone was relevant to the context,

Did he shout "fire"?

Punctuation inside and outside of a quotation?

1 Answers1