Quotation marks
editPunctuation inside or outside
editThere are two styles in wide use. Either style is acceptable on Wikipedia, so long as articles are internally consistent. Where there is disagreement, defer to the style used by the first major contributor.
1. Typesetters' rules, also called printers' rules, typographical usage, or traditional punctuation, places the period and comma within closing quotation marks. Commas are placed within closing quotation marks even when dealing with single and double quotation marks together (quotes within quotes; see the third and fourth examples below). The dash, colon, semicolon, question mark, and exclamation mark are placed within closing quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material; they are placed outside when they apply to the whole sentence.[1] This style of punctuation is common in the U.S., Canada, and in the UK in fiction and journalism.[2]
- Examples of typesetters' rules:
- I was asked to state my "name and serial number," but I have no serial number.
- I was asked to state my "name and serial number."
- She said, "I was asked to state my 'name and serial number.'"
- "I was asked to state my 'name and serial number,'" she said.
- I was asked to state my "name and serial number"; I have no serial number.
- Did he ask me to state my "name and serial number"?
- I was asked to state my "name and serial number"!
- He shouted, "State your name and serial number!"
2. Logical punctuation places within closing quotation marks only those punctuation marks that appear in the original material; all other punctuation marks follow the closing quotation marks. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, this system requires extreme authorial precision and occasional decisions by editors.[3]
- Examples of logical punctuation:
Correct: Arthur said, "The situation is deplorable and unacceptable." - (The period is part of the quoted text.)
Correct: Arthur said that the situation was "deplorable". - (The period is not part of the quoted text.)
Correct: Martha asked, "Are you coming?" - (The question mark belongs inside because the quoted text itself was a question.)
Correct: Did Martha say, "Come with me"? - (The very quote is being questioned, so the question mark belongs outside; any punctuation at the end of the original quote is omitted.)
- When quoting a sentence fragment that ends in a period, some judgment is required: if the fragment communicates a complete sentence, the period can be placed inside. The period should be omitted if the quotation is in the middle of a sentence.
Correct: Martha said, "Come with me", and they did.
- If the sequence of juxtaposed punctuation marks seems distracting or untidy, try an acceptable alternative.
Correct: Martha said, "Come with me" (and they did).
Notes
edit- ^ The Associated Press Stylebook, p. 337; The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition 6.9, pp. 242-243; Strunk, William Jr., and White, E. B. The Elements of Style. Pearson Education Company, 4th edition, p. 36; The Globe and Mail Style Book. McFarlane and Warren Clements, 9th edition, p. 237; Brinck, Tom; Gergle, Darren; Wood, Scott D. Usability for the Web. Morgan Kaufmann, 2002, p. 277. For quotes within quotes, see Walsh, Bill. Lapsing into a comma. Contemporary Books, 2000, p. 93.
- ^ Ritter, R.M. New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors. Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 155.
- ^ Butcher, Judith and Drake, Caroline. Butcher's Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 273-274; Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition 6.9, pp. 242-243; For the term "logical punctuation," see Hyde, Grant Milnor. Handbook for Newspaper Workers. D. Appleton and company, 1921, p. 38. Also see "BS 5261-2:1976," British Standards Institution, February 27, 1976. ISBN 0580094308