Punctuation For Quotes Inside Quotes
In american english you start with double quotation marks and then single quotation marks.
Punctuation for quotes inside quotes. Thus a british book might punctuate lulu s comment in this way. The placement of question marks with quotation marks follows logic. In british english you start with single quotation marks and then double quotation marks. In memories of west street and lepke robert lowell a conscientious objector or c o recounts meeting a jehovah s witness in prison.
Is part of the quotation. If a quote inside a quote is a question or exclamation place the question mark or exclamation point inside the single quotation marks. Quotation marks and other punctuation marks. Lulu says as a strong opponent of piercing i am sorry to tell you that lola told me i m thinking of piercing my tongue.
Commas and periods directly following quotations always go inside closing quotation marks. She asked will you still be my friend the question will you still be my friend. When a run in quotation contains quotation marks within the quoted material itself use single quotation marks in their place. Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks.
The british frequently use single quotation marks when they re quoting and double marks for a quotation inside another quotation. Do you agree with the saying all s fair in love and war. The most common question people ask about quotation marks is whether periods and commas go inside or outside and the answer depends on where your audience lives because in american english we always put periods and commas inside quotation marks but in british english periods and commas can go inside or outside kind of like the american rules for question marks and exclamation points. If a question is within the quoted material a question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks.
Question marks can vary depending if the question is part of the quote then the punctuation mark goes inside the quotation marks. In a sentence with an interrupted quotation the comma is inside the quotation marks for the first half of a quotation. This question mostly refers to the sentence ending punctuation marks punctuation marks that introduce a quote are never placed within quotation marks. When you put a quote inside a quote you alternate between double and single quotation marks.
One level of nesting the most common reason for nesting punctuation is shown in section 1 3 7 of the mla handbook p. In a sentence with an interrupted quotation the speaker tag is followed by a comma before the quotation marks. Bobbi said delia asked will this remote control work on my tv bobbi said delia shouted get your hands off me. Sentence ending punctuation is a whole different story.