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when commas are placed with quotation marks, are the commas and periods always inside the quotation marks?

ex. i just read the short story "the purpose of life," it took me 20 minutes.
or is it
i just read the short story "the purpose of life", it took me 20 minutes.

2006-11-19 04:08:23 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference Homework Help

8 answers

In the U.S., periods and commas always go INSIDE quotation marks.

http://www.chipsquinn.org/skills/write/write.aspx?id=223

Modern American publishing rules (Chicago Manual of Style is the paragon of such rules) state that commas and periods always go inside quote marks, no matter what.
British rules still put the comma and the period outside the quotes.

Since your sentence doesn't require a comma, but rather a semicolon, you should know the rule is that semicolons and colons go OUTSIDE the quotation marks.

2006-11-19 04:14:09 · answer #1 · answered by Bad Kitty! 7 · 2 0

Commas and periods go inside quotation marks. Of course, you don't put a period if the quote is not the end of the sentence.

Secondly, your sentence does not require a comma where you have it, as pointed out by someone else.

Third, check on whether The Purpose of Life (which requires capitalization) needs to be in quotes. It depends on the style you are using.

2006-11-19 13:00:14 · answer #2 · answered by fordkid14 4 · 0 0

Well, in the sample you have provided, a comma would be inappropriate. You need a semicolon, which goes outside of the quotation mark.

2006-11-19 21:07:11 · answer #3 · answered by Ryan R 6 · 0 0

IT'S NOT A COMMA! YOU ARE JOINING TWO INDEPENDENT CLAUSES AND THEREFORE YOU NEED TO USE A SEMI-COLON! AND THAT WOULD BE PLACED OUTSIDE OF THE QUOTATION MARKS! FURTHERMORE, THE REST OF YOUR PUNCTUATION IS EGREGIOUS AND YOUR CAPITALIZATION NEEDS SERIOUS WORK.

WRITE THE SENTENCE THIS WAY:

I just read the short story, "The Purpose of Life"; it took me twenty minutes.

THOUGH I MUST SAY, THAT IS NOT A VERY STRONG SENTENCE. BUT GOOD LUCK, AND I AM SORRY IF I AM BEING RUDE.

2006-11-19 12:22:39 · answer #4 · answered by Nipivy 4 · 1 0

Inside the quotation marks in your example.

2006-11-19 12:13:07 · answer #5 · answered by ebush73 5 · 1 0

its inside the quotation marks. u always put it inside!

2006-11-19 12:10:22 · answer #6 · answered by Shayla <3 4 · 2 0

commas go outside the quotaions, periods go inside.

Example: "The Purpose of life",
"That is the Purpose of life."

2006-11-19 12:12:25 · answer #7 · answered by Bonita 3 · 0 3

You place periods/commas outside the quote because it's not part of it.

2006-11-19 12:10:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 3

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