
Quotation Marks & Punctuation ⁉️
Uses of Quotation Marks and Punctuation Examples ⁉️ Grammar Matters
Quotations marks and punctuation help bring the printed word to life but how and when do you use quotation marks? As usual, Brits and Americans disagree about the rules. ADDucation will compare American and British English punctuation side by side with examples. What types of quotation marks (also called inverted commas in British English) will you use? You can choose traditional “ ” (66 99 style quote marks), single curly quote marks ‘ ’ or the straight ” “ on most keyboards. ADDucation uses the straight quote marks because they’re easy to find on the keyboard. Use traditional quote marks and punctuation anywhere typography is important, for example in printed books, magazines, poetry and official publications.
- ADDucation’s list of how to quotation marks correctly was compiled and maintained by Joe Connor and last updated
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Quote Marks with: | Quotation Marks & Punctuation Rule/s: | 🇺🇸 American English Examples | 🇬🇧 British English Examples |
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Periods (full stops) and commas |
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Semicolons, colons, and dashes | Semicolons, colons, and dashes always go outside quotation marks. |
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Question marks and exclamation points | Where they go depends on your sentence:
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Part of the quotation:
Not part of the quotation:
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Part of the quotation:
Not part of the quotation:
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Single or double quote marks / inverted commas (single vs double quotation marks) |
Readability can be improved using a space between the closing single and double quote:
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Commas inside quotations |
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See also: List of Mnemonics (memory joggers)…
Grammar Rules Made to be Broken?
- Technical writing or coding examples which illustrate something the reader should enter into a text box should leave commas, periods (full stops) outside the quotation marks because it’s important the user doesn’t enter the punctuation into the text box.
- For over a decade the <q> tag has been available to use in short inline quotations instead of traditional quotation marks quotes in HTML webpages.
- In most situations where it’s tempting to break the rules a better method is often to use bold or italics or colored text to highlight text or place the instructions on a separate line.
Quotation Marks Trivia History
American English and British English differ because, when metal type was commonly used to compose text for printing by compositors, the rule was to place periods (full stops) and commas inside quotation marks to help protect the slender small metal type pieces from falling off or being broken off. In the early 20th century, a famous British style guide “The King’s English” (written by Fowler Brothers) arbitrarily decided “logic” overruled practical typesetting so the British moved full stops (periods) and commas outside quote marks. This change never made it across to America, which is why there are two different styles today.
More Grammer Related Resources:
- ADDucation’s list of best one line jokes is full of quotes…
- List of Contronyms (words with contradictory meanings)…
- Help improve ADDucation’s list of punctuation and quotation marks use examples by adding your comments below…
As a native English speaker and teacher, having been born and educated in England, I believe that you have mixed up your “US American English examples” and your “GB British English examples” with regard to the positions of the periods (full stops) and commas with quotation marks, i.e.
“How dare you assume I’d like to go out with you,” he said, looking stunned.
is the GB British English way, whereas:
“Don’t underestimate me”, she said with a disarmingly friendly smile.
Is not the GB British English way. You may, however, wish to check this information with other native English speakers.
Hi C, thanks for your comment. We’ve done some more research and I’ve added two external links which provide in-depth explanations. We believe our examples are correct so please follow the links and get back to us with your further thoughts.