Which one comes first PERIOD or INVERTED COMMAS?

[Odessa Dawn]

Which one comes first PERIOD or INVERTED COMMAS?

​

Bashir in a famous declaration reported to have said during his first state visit to Bahrain at that time: “Dr. Mamoun will be hanged, and whoever else go on strike will be executed without given the right to appeal”.


Context source:The Islamists Who Fell Under the Bus (1-3) Poacher turned Gamekeeper - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan
Inverted commas usage:Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks Effectively - Tips for Using Quotation Marks Correctly





​

 

[emsr2d2]

I have a feeling there is a BrE vs AmE difference here. I'm sure I have seen BarbD say many times that the period always comes in the same place, but for the life of me, I can't remember whether it's inside or outside the quotation marks in AmE. I'm sure we'll find out pretty soon!

For BrE, if the entire sentence makes up the whole quote, then the full stop (period) goes inside the inverted commas. If you are only quoting part of a sentence, or perhaps just one word, then it goes outside the inverted commas.

John said "I am wearing a hat."
Several times while John was talking, he said "treading on eggshells".
I'm not sure what he meant when he said "plethora".

In the quote you posted, I would have put the full stop inside the quotation marks.

 

[5jj]

Which one comes first PERIOD or INVERTED COMMAS?​

I was always taught to put the full stop (period) before the inverted commas. However, I now put it outside, which seems slightly more logical to me. People in Britain don't really bother much about this, though most publishers will insist on their own house style.
​

 

[riquecohen]

We were taught to put the period inside the quotation mark. (AmE)

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, logical or not, punctuation goes inside the closing quotation mark.

 

[emsr2d2]

You'll notice that the previous two responses were from AmE speakers. As I said, there is no such strict rule in BrE, it depends on many factors. You may like to look here.

Be warned, here are a couple of quotes from that website:

"Well, in US English, the full stop goes inside the closing quotation mark in this sentence. In British English, it is placed outside.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is just the tip of the iceberg, however. The placement of punctuation relative to a closing quotation mark is surprisingly complex. What's worse, the rules for US English are quite different to those for British English."

"In summary, when punctuating quotations, British English places some punctuation inside the closing quotation mark and some outside. Knowing which is which is almost rocket science.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Now might be a good time to have a cup of tea and a little lie down. "[/FONT]