Hello everyone!

I’m back with another little punctuation lesson. Today’s victim? The quotation mark.

Now, the tricky part about quotation marks isn’t how or when to use them; it’s whether other punctuation marks go inside or outside closing quotation marks. Part of the vast confusion about the rules governing punctuation mark order stems from the fact that British English and American English differ when it comes to this issue. For simplicity’s sake, the rules I outline here will be for American English. The other part of the vast confusion stems from the fact that different rules apply to different punctuation marks when they’re used in conjunction with quotation marks. But not to worry! I’m going to lay it all out for you now…

So, you’ve got your quotation, and you’re all set with your opening quotation mark and all the punctuation that comes within the quotation. But now you’re at the end of the quotation, and you have no idea whether that comma, period, exclamation point, question mark, colon, or semicolon should go before or after your closing quotation mark!

Commas and periods are easy: They always go before the closing quotation mark. Always. No exceptions. It is always “Let’s go to the store,” she said and never “Let’s go to the store”, she said.

Colons and semicolons are also easy: They always go after the closing quotation mark. Always. No exceptions. It is always She said, “Let’s go to the store”; then she went and never She said, “Let’s go to the store;” then she went.

Question marks and exclamation points are slightly more difficult because they vary depending on context. If they are part of the quotation, they go before the closing quotation mark, and if they are not part of the quotation, they go after the closing quotation mark. So, She asked, “Do you want to go to the store?” but Did she say, “Let’s go to the store”?

And that’s all there is too it! Getting the order right is really just about remembering which rule applies to which punctuation marks…and hopefully this will serve as a handy guide to help you remember! Next time, I’ll be discussing dashes. But until then, go forth and quote away!