Punctuation Inside Or Outside Quotes Uk
Quotation marks and other punctuation marks does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks.
Punctuation inside or outside quotes uk. The conventional view in contrast insists on placing most other punctuation marks inside a closing quote regardless of whether they form part of the quotation. In the uk and australia they keep punctuation inside the quotation marks only when it is part of the quotation. Though not necessarily logical the american rules for multiple punctuation with quotation marks are firmly established. This question mostly refers to the sentence ending punctuation marks punctuation marks that introduce a quote are never placed within quotation marks.
Its is the possessive form of it and is rare among possessives when to put periods and commas inside quotes the uk australia leave logic to the brits. Otherwise the point comes outside anna said. These punctuation marks should contain the words taken from the text. In american usage commas and periods at the end of quotes always go inside the quotation marks.
Your style guide needs updating and i said. Colons and semicolons are placed outside quotations while question marks and exclamation marks follow the logic of the sentence. The logical view holds that the only punctuation marks which should be placed inside the quotation marks are those that form part of the quotation while all others should be placed outside. In the uk the tendency is to place them outside.
The convention is universal for direct quotations. In a christmas carol by charles dickens the character of scrooge is described as being hard and sharp as flint. All take periods in american english. In british usage they can go either inside or outside.
Mr mrs and ms. The correct choice is almost always inside. British style more sensibly places unquoted periods and commas outside the quotation marks. See here for a brief explanation of the british style commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks even though they aren t part of the original quotation.
Parentheses work in a similar fashion there are however variations in british publishing practice when not making a direct quote but the conventions are not entirely straightforward. British english places the punctuation inside the quotation marks just as other forms of english. Unless the punctuation is part of the quoted material it goes outside the quotation marks. For all other punctuation the british and american styles are in agreement.