Double Quote Before Or After Period
The second sentence contains an indirect quote which is a paraphrased version of what john said.
Double quote before or after period. Period with parentheses or brackets. Vertical enumerated lists next. Quotations can bring your writing to life the reader imagines someone saying the words but quotations are also vexing to format. Publication manual as do several other major style guides such as ap chicago and mla the table below elaborates with examples for each punctuation mark.
The american style was developed based on typography. If you re quoting a written source you should still put the quote between quotation marks unless you plan to paraphrase it. Period marks go before the. The period comes after the g so it s the same for the apostrophe when you drop the g.
In the british style the placement of the period depends upon whether the period is logically part of the quoted material. After the quotation marks because if put before the quotation mark that makes the quote seem like if it continues after what you wrote even if the quote has ended. Only the quoted material is a question so the question mark belongs only to the quote and must remain within the quotation marks. In all other situations the period comes inside the closing quotation marks.
See the examples in strunk white p. Quotation marks are used only with direct quotes. In america this topic is not subject to debate. 92 of the 6th ed.
When setting up type requiring the period to precede the quotation marks allowed better kerning. The entire sentence is a question so the question mark goes after the quotation marks 2 she said how many people are here unlike the previous example the entire sentence is not a question. When the punctuation was done as usual the full stop period was placed at the end of the line of type after the quotation mark. An m was wider than an i for example.
This rule isn t just for speech. In american style the period always comes before the closing quotation marks. Place other punctuation inside quotation marks when that punctuation is part of what is being quoted such as a quoted question. A comma or period that follows a closing double quotation mark hangs off by itself and creates a gap in the line of text since the space over the comma or period combines with the following word space.
British publishers tend to put the comma or period after the quotation mark. Not only do you have to follow different rules depending on what other punctuation marks you mix with your quotation marks but people in different countries also follow different rules so you may see quotation marks handled differently in high quality. Run in and block quotations. If that apostrophe were a single quotation mark the period would come before it.