Quotation marks (” “) are a beloved form of punctuation in the English language, used to indicate a verbatim report on what someone said, and used in a great deal of business writing. They are often misused. This article will clear up some misconceptions held by many about proper usage of these marks.
Where to Place Periods (.) and Commas (,) – The United States
In the United States, commas and periods ALWAYS go INSIDE the quotation marks, whether or not the comma is actually part of the quotation.
Here are some examples from some recent discussions on LinkedIn. Don’t expect this rule to be logical:
- Correct (in US): E.g. stands for “exempli gratia.”
- Correct (in US): As for [the phrase] “graduating college,” I’m not sure when it became correct.
- Incorrect (in US): You are my “go to person”.
- Incorrect (in US): I was unaware of the difference [between initialisms and acronyms] until I heard it on the NPR program “A Way With Words”.
- Incorrect (in US): “Its” is the possessive form of “it”, and is rare among possessives…
Where to Place Periods (.) and Commas (,) – The UK & Australia
Leave logic to the Brits. In the UK and Australia, they keep punctuation inside the quotation marks only when it is part of the quotation. For example:
- Correct (in UK): I was unaware of the difference [between initialisms and acronyms] until I heard it on the NPR program “A Way With Words”.
- Correct (in UK): You are my “go to person”.
- Correct (in UK): “Its” is the possessive form of “it”, and is rare among possessives…
- Incorrect (In UK): E.g. stands for “exempli gratia.”
- Incorrect (in UK): As for [the phrase] “graduating college,” I’m not sure when it became correct…
Punctuating Letter Names
Some grammarians say we should use the logical way of punctuating in the case of letters. For example:
- The eighth letter of the alphabet is “h”.
- Name three words that start with an “e”, and three that start with a “k”.
I prefer to avoid this issue by italicizing the names of letters:
- The ninth letter of the alphabet is h.
- Name three words that start with an e, and three that start with a k.
Exclamation Points (!) & Question Marks (?)
When it comes to exclamation points and question marks, we all get to be logical. If the quote is a question or exclamation, include the punctuation inside the quotation marks. If it’s not, don’t.
- She asked, “Which way is it to the theater?”
- Did she say, “I absolutely love the theater, darling”?
- I’m so excited to see “In the Heights”!
- I get chills every time I hear King Richard declare, “Off with his head!”
Semicolons (;) and Colons (:)
Here’s some more good news: We get to be logical with semicolons and colons too!
- The following items go in the bin labeled “Paper Recycling”: magazines, newspapers, envelopes, and clean cardboard.
- Put magazines, newspapers, and envelopes in the bin labeled “Paper Recycling”; do not put paper towels, tissues, or greasy pizza boxes in there!
(It’s so much fun to sneak a public service announcement into a grammar blog!)
What if I’m Canadian?
All bets are off (or on, as the case may be), in Canada. Do it the way you think your readers will expect you to do it. As far as I can tell, you get to choose.
There are many more subtleties to the use of quotation marks, and if you have questions, please ask. I’m happy to provide my most educated answer.
Tags: Brenda Bernstein, Grammar, Writing Tips
Thanks for this Brenda.
It’s no wonder we manage to get the rules in a muddle when you consider how great the range of sites we read from in a day.
I, for one, don’t check the origin of all the sites I visit. To make it even more confusing, we see posts on social networking sites from all over the world.
A UK reader may simply scoff and tut at a US poster’s grammar/punctuation, blissfully unaware that the US reader is doing just the same back!
We need to raise awareness of our divided language.
Brenda said: “What if I’m Canadian? All bets are off (or on, as the case may be), in Canada. Do it the way you think your readers will expect you to do it. As far as I can tell, you get to choose.”
Most refer to the Canadian Press Stylebook and its companion volume, Caps and Spelling. With respect to whether commas and periods go within or outside of quotation marks, the standard in Canada is that (most of the time) they go within.
If you write for a publication, regardless of where it is based, the best idea is to check what standards that publication uses and conform to them.
In personal writing, maybe, you get to choose, but in professional writing, your client or employer is the one who gets to choose.
Thanks for your great comment, Pattie! Yes, to clarify, your readers’ expectations and demands always come first. If you are writing professionally in any country, find out which style guide your employer wants you to use and follow it! It is for personal correspondence or other unregulated writing that I believe the writer gets to choose.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been informed about international differences regarding quotation mark rules — thanks for the crash course!
One exception to the American ruling regarding commas and periods: If the exact characters in the quote are important, as in the case of a password, then periods and commas should be left outside the quotation marks:
Example: Click on LOG IN. Enter your name for USERNAME. For PASSWORD enter “lollipop”, then click OK.
Up until today, I never doubted that punctuation — any punctuation — that wasn’t part of a quote should go outside the quotation marks. After reading your post, out of curiosity, I skimmed some of my published articles. In every one of them, that little habit of mine had been corrected, so that it all agreed with the rules as you have explained them. In any back-and-forth I’d done with an editor, I had failed to notice that change — or maybe it had come later.
So, thanks. From now on, I can give them their punctuation correctly from the start. But perhaps some day, I’ll write the original version of something for a British publication. Then, I’ll be able to both BE correct and FEEL correct!