In the last post I tried to reinforce an absolute rule for “American English”: The two most common punctuation marks, periods and commas, ALWAYS GO INSIDE quotation marks, despite our logic telling us otherwise. (“American English” because the rule is different in the UK and some parts of Canada.) Now what about question marks, exclamation points, colons, and semicolons? Here you go.
We have to think about it
Question marks can go inside or outside quotation marks, depending on the relationship of the punctuation mark to the section in quotes. Trust your logic.
Janie asked, “How old do you think Uncle Bert is?” Logical, right? Janie posed a question, so the question mark indicates that, and then we end the quote with quotation marks.
Did you really call Uncle Bert a “geezer”? Logical again. It makes sense to enclose “geezer” in quotes and then punctuate the sentence correctly––with a question mark.
Exclamation points can go inside or outside as well, for the same reasons.
The shortstop yelled, “Got it!”
Stop calling me a “doofus”!
Don’t even think about it
As with periods and commas, where we can go on autopilot, semicolons and colons are similar––but in the opposite direction. They ALWAYS GO OUTSIDE the quotation marks (which is logical).
She called her absence a “personal day”; I guess to her the World Series is personal.
Four of our culinary students are competing in the “Souper Bowl”: Kelly, Hannah, Mo, and John.
So we have six punctuation marks to worry about, and here are the rules one more time:
Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. Don’t apply logic.
Question marks and exclamation points can go inside or outside based on what’s happening in the sentence.
Semicolons and colons always go outside the quotation marks because we can’t come up with a situation where the opposite would be logical.
In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.