Period Inside Or Outside Quotes Legal Writing

This rule applies even if only one quoted word ends the sentence.

Period inside or outside quotes legal writing. Quotation marks are used incorrectly in so much legal and non legal writing that it s an epidemic. Periods come inside with only one exception the period always comes inside closing quotation marks. The period is unique among punctuation marks in that yes it always goes inside the quotation marks. Commas and periods outside quotes.

He said we need to tell the boss right away she reported that the boss was in her words miffed. When a period goes inside the quotation marks it is set aside as being part of the section in the marks. It is an entity by itself though it is incorporated with the rest of the sentence and the sentences around it. For people in the united states periods and commas go inside the quotation marks.

For other punctuation marks where the closing punctuation goes depends on which idea it refers to the sentence or the quote. In american writing commas and periods almost always go inside quotation marks. For instance he said i m going to the mall however this is not the case for all end punctuation marks. When something is set in quotation marks it is separated.

For example if the sentence is a question but the words in the quote are not the question mark would go outside the quotation marks. I see it wrong about 30 of the time. Even more confusing periods and commas always always always go inside quotation marks unless doing so would confuse the reader such as in a procedure when telling users what to type but exclamation points question marks and semicolons go outside. Periods and commas go inside quotation marks including single quotation marks.

Some are included within the quotation marks if it makes sense and other are outside of it. She said bill said i don t think we should see each other anymore colons semicolons and dashes remain outside quotation marks. In american english all commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. Here are some usage guidelines.

You ve got to be carefully taught wrote oscar hammerstein ii. The standard rule in american punctuation is that periods go inside quotation marks as do most commas even if the punctuation is not part of the quote. If you re writing in england or in another country that uses british writing conventions you ll want to place periods and commas outside quotation marks.