Quotation Marks: Where the Full Stop Goes
Short answer: in American English, full stops (periods) and commas always go inside closing quotation marks: She called it “remarkable.” In British English they go inside only if they belong to the quoted words, otherwise outside: She called it ‘remarkable’. In both styles, colons and semicolons go outside, and question marks and exclamation marks go wherever they logically belong.
Cheat sheet
| Mark | American | British |
|---|---|---|
| Full stop / period | always inside: He said it was “flawed.” | inside only if part of the quote: He said it was ‘flawed’. |
| Comma | always inside: “Wait,” she said. | inside in dialogue (‘Wait,’ she said); outside when quoting a word or phrase: words like ‘fine’, ‘nice’ and ‘good’ |
| Colon / semicolon | outside | outside |
| Question / exclamation mark | inside if the quote is a question; outside if the whole sentence is | same |
| Main quotation marks | double ” “ | traditionally single ‘ ‘, though double is now common |
| Quote inside a quote | single inside double | double inside single |
Full stops and commas: the two conventions
American: full stops and commas go inside the quotation marks, always, whether or not they belong to the quoted material.
British: punctuation goes inside only if it belongs to the quoted material, and outside if it belongs to the surrounding sentence. This is often called logical punctuation.
- American: He said the plan was “flawed.”
- British: He said the plan was ‘flawed’.
- Both, when the quote is a full sentence: She said, “The plan is flawed.” / She said, ‘The plan is flawed.’
The usual explanation for the American habit is old printing technology: a small piece of metal type for a comma or full stop sitting outside a quotation mark at the end of a line could break or shift, so printers tucked it inside. The technology is long gone; the convention stayed.
Question marks and exclamation marks
Here both styles agree, and the rule is pure logic. Ask: is the quoted part the question, or is the whole sentence the question?
- The quote is a question: She asked, “Are you coming?”
- The sentence is a question: Did she really call it “remarkable”?
- Both are questions: use one question mark, inside: Did he ask, “Are you coming?”
- Exclamation inside: He shouted, “Stop!”
- Exclamation outside: I can’t believe she called it “fine”!
Never add a full stop after a closing question or exclamation mark: not She asked, “Are you coming?”.
Colons and semicolons
These always go outside the closing quotation mark, in both styles:
- She called it “remarkable”; I disagreed.
- He gave three reasons for calling the plan “flawed”: cost, time and risk.
Punctuating dialogue
Dialogue follows a few fixed patterns. These are the same in both styles apart from the shape of the quotation marks.
| Pattern | Example | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Quote, then speaker | “I’m leaving,” she said. | comma (not full stop) inside; lower-case she |
| Speaker, then quote | She said, “I’m leaving.” | comma after said; capital letter starts the quote |
| Question, then speaker | “Are you leaving?” she asked. | question mark replaces the comma; still lower-case she |
| Interrupted sentence | “I think,” she said, “that we should leave.” | commas on both sides; that stays lower-case |
| Two sentences | “I’m tired,” she said. “Let’s go home.” | full stop after said; new capital |
| New speaker | Each new speaker starts a new paragraph. | makes long conversations easy to follow |
Single or double marks
American English uses double marks for quotations and single marks for a quotation inside a quotation. British English traditionally does the reverse, though many British newspapers and publishers now use double marks too.
- American: She said, “He called it ‘remarkable’ twice.”
- British: She said, ‘He called it “remarkable” twice.’
Other uses: titles, words as words and scare quotes
- Titles of short works: songs, poems, articles, chapters and episodes go in quotation marks; books, films and albums go in italics: “Yesterday” is a song on the album Help!
- Words as words: quotation marks or italics both work: The word “literally” is often misused.
- Scare quotes: marks around a word you are not actually quoting signal distance or doubt: The “improvements” made everything slower. They do the sneering for you, so use them sparingly; two in a paragraph and the writer sounds contemptuous of everything.
- Not for emphasis: a sign reading “Fresh” fish suggests the fish is anything but. Use bold or italics to stress a word.
Long quotations
A quotation of more than about four lines (or 40 words, depending on the style guide) is usually set as an indented block quotation without quotation marks. Introduce it with a colon, and put any quotation marks that appear inside the original as double marks.
Common mistakes
- Mixing styles in one document: “flawed.” in one paragraph and ‘flawed’. in the next. Pick a style and keep it.
- Full stop before the speaker tag: “I’m leaving.” she said. → “I’m leaving,” she said.
- Double end punctuation: He asked, “Why?”. → He asked, “Why?”
- Semicolon inside: She said “no;” I said yes. → She said “no”; I said yes.
- Quotation marks for emphasis: We are “open” on Sundays. → We are open on Sundays.
- Apostrophe confusion: in British single-quote style, an apostrophe inside a quotation can look like a closing mark: ‘The dog’s bowl,’ she said. That is correct; just check the closing mark is where you mean. See apostrophe rules.
Practice
Punctuate each sentence in American style, then say what would change in British style.
- He called the film a masterpiece (quote “masterpiece”)
- Did she say I quit (quote “I quit”)
- She asked Is it raining (quote the question)
- I’m hungry he said
- They described the room as cosy I’d call it cramped (use a semicolon)
Answers
- He called the film a “masterpiece.” British: He called the film a ‘masterpiece’.
- Did she say, “I quit”? (the whole sentence is the question). British: Did she say, ‘I quit’?
- She asked, “Is it raining?” British: She asked, ‘Is it raining?’
- “I’m hungry,” he said. British: ‘I’m hungry,’ he said.
- They described the room as “cosy”; I’d call it cramped. British: the same, with single marks.
Which style should you use?
Follow your audience or your house style. Writing for American readers, an American publication or a US school: American style. Writing for British, Irish, Australian or other Commonwealth readers: British style is normal, though many Australian and Canadian publishers mix the two. Technical writing and computing often use logical punctuation everywhere, because a stray full stop inside quotation marks can change a command or a search term. If you have no style guide, pick one and be consistent.
Related: commas, dashes or brackets and the serial comma debate.
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
